Even In Fairytales
by Treta Aysel
Summary: AU One evening Yuugi is in the library working on a project for his literature class. Upon opening a leather book he soon finds himself in a world where fairytales and magic are real. Eventual YYxY with hints of BxR, and MxM.
1. Chapter I

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! Expect for the plot and that's about it. **

**Even In Fairytales:**

**Chapter I: **

A single light from the ceiling dimly lit the room. What light there was bounced off the many books that were against the wall. In the center of the room was a table and at the table sat a young man. He was hunched over a bunch of books and papers that covered the dark finish of the table.

"Still hard at work I see. Hmm Yuugi?" Came female voice from the doorway behind him.

Sitting up Yuugi turned his attention to the librarian standing in the doorway. She was a middle-aged woman whose brown hair was slowly turning gray. She wore black-rimmed reading glasses, a yellow long sleeve sweater, and a brown skirt. He gave her a smile as he stood up. "Yep, I really want to do well on this project."

The librarian returned the smile to the tri-colored haired young man as she held out a book to him. "Here's the book of Russian fairytales that you asked for."

Yuugi took the book from her and flipped through it. "Thanks Ms. Mason. I'm sure it'll help a lot."

"I'll let you get back to work. If you need to help finding another book, just ask. Good luck on your project." With that Ms. Mason left him alone so that he could get back to work.

Yuugi sat down with the book in hand. Sighing, he turned back to the many papers and books. He tucked the book Ms. Mason had just given him under the Hans Christian Anderson Fairytale book. "This is going to take forever." He muttered as he opened the Brothers Grimm Fairytale book he had placed in front of him before Ms. Mason had came.

It seemed that he had been working endlessly on this project for his literature class. For his project he was comparing classical fairytales to their modern day adaptations. He already had the modern day adaptations done and had just recently moved on to their classical counterparts.

He yawned as he rubbed his eyes. Yuugi glanced up at the grandfather clock and saw that it read five o'clock. _'I've been working for two hours straight.'_ His amethyst eyes grew heavy as he folded his arms laid his head down on the mess. "Maybe I'll just rest for a few minutes." As soon as his head hit the books he had fallen asleep.

Around five-thirty Ms. Mason came back to check on him. Upon finding him lying on the many books and papers she shook him gently. "Yuugi?"

He groaned as he shut his eyes tighter. Ms. Mason shook her head as she smiled to herself. For the past week he had been coming here everyday to work on this project, staying as long as he could. He deserved a chance to rest. Her eyes slipped up to the grandfather clock and she decided that she would back in an hour to wake him up if he wasn't already awake.

As silently as she came Ms. Mason left the back room. When she was gone a soft voice could be heard echoing throughout the room. _"Yuugi…"_ It whispered.

Said young man let out another groan as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Huh?" He asked as he looked around.

_ "Yuugi…" _There it was again.

"Ms. Mason?" He got up from his seat and looked for the librarian. Only to find that no one but himself occupied the room.

_"Yuugi…" _For a third time it called. No, it was too high pitched to be the librarian anyways.

Cautiously he began to move towards the sound of the voice. "Hello?" He called, hoping for an answer. "Is anyone there?"

_"Yuugi, follow the sound of my voice."_

Either he must've been getting closer or the voice had heard him and answered. As Yuugi walked he found himself in an older part of the library that was filled with books that looked like they came from as late as the eighteen hundreds and as early as the fifteen hundreds.

Soon the bookshelves ended and he found a dark cherry wood table, much like the one he had been working at. Sitting on the table was a leather bound book. "Looks like Ms. Mason forgot one. I'll bring it to her and she can put it up later." He said to himself as he picked it up and looked at it.

"Tales of Alore?" He ran his fingers over the elegant gilded letters on the cover.

Curious now Yuugi opened the book up and saw writing in it. "Once upon a time…" He read, the four words familiar on his lips. As soon as those words were spoken aloud the book in hand began to glow. "W…what's going on?" Books weren't supposed to glow like that. The light emerging from the book got brighter and brighter and he had no choice but to close his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again Yuugi found himself not in the library, but standing at the edge of a forest. The book that he had found back in the library was gone. "Where am I?"

**AN: Oh dear lord, I really should be working on my paper for my English class, but alas I'm not. Instead I'm too busy working on this. Well, it is more fun. I know it's not a lot right now, but it's only the first chapter. I'll shut up now and let you guys review. **

**Princess Cornelia **


	2. Chapter II

**Even In Fairytales: **

**Chapter II:**

"Where am I?" Yuugi wondered aloud as he looked around. As he did he found that he was no longer in the dark and dank library. Instead he was now outside where it was nice and sunny. It was strange the last thing he remembered doing was reading from a book that he found in the library. And now he found himself here, outside, on the edge of a forest. All memories between then and now were gone.

Nothing looked familiar at all. He had never seen this forest before. He wasn't sure if Domino City even was near a forest. Far off in the distance he could see the outlines of buildings. "Well, at least a town is near by. Maybe some one there could tell me where I am."

Yuugi walked along a dirt path that looked like lead to the town. As he walked down a dirt path a wind began to pick up. _'What was that?'_ He thought to himself because as quickly as the wind picked up it was gone.

He looked up and standing on the path in front of him was a blonde young woman who looked no older than twenty. Her blonde hair fell a little bit past her shoulders and she was about a good five inches taller than he was. Which wasn't very surprising to Yuugi. He was seventeen and five feet, which was how tall he had been when he first started high school. She wore a plain green olive skirt and a white blouse. Her feet were bare save for a silver anklet. "Hello Yuugi," She greeted him with the same high-pitched voice he had heard back in the library. "I've been expecting you."

Yuugi stared blankly at her. What was she talking about? The woman giggled at the expression on his face. "I can tell you're confused. I guess I should explain things to you. My name is Mai and I'm a fairy godmother." Fairy godmother? Did she really think that he still believed in that stuff? "And I've brought you here to the land of Alore for a reason. It's time for you to begin your own fairytale."

"My own WHAT?" All right, now he was lost. What was she talking about? Was she on some sort of medication that she forgot to take? And just where had she come from?

"Your own fairytale." Mai repeated softly. "Everyone from the fairytales that you have heard in your world was selected by Fate in this world. When it comes time for their tale to begin the magic surrounding their tale flares to life. You, of course, are one of the rare ones. We don't get too many people destined for their own fairytales from your world. Which is why I have come to explain things to you."

Yuugi blinked. He really didn't know what to make of it. _'I think I've read one to many fairytales.' _He thought to himself as he tried to think of a way he could answer Mai.

"You don't believe me at all, do you?" Mai asked, as if reading his mind.

Yuugi shook his head. "I want to, it's just that…"

"There's no such thing as magic in your world. I understand. Maybe this'll help you in believing."

In her right hand a slender, sliver stick appeared. She gave a small wave of the stick and an apple appeared in her left hand. Now, it wasn't a lot of magic or anything, but Mai didn't like to flaunt her magic around. It was best to save it for when it was truly needed. Besides she liked doing simple things, like this, with her magic. Simple it was she hoped that he at least acknowledged it as magic.

Yuugi blinked again. It _had_ looked like the apple had came from nowhere, but logic told him that it could've just as easily been a trick that he just didn't catch. "Here you are." She said as she handed him the apple.

"Um, thanks." He took the apple and looked at it. He placed it inside his jacket pocket and looked back at Mai. "I have a question, just what am I supposed to be doing in this '_fairytale'_?"

Mai giggled again. "That is for me to know and you to find out. Now if you excuse me I am needed else where." As she spoke the wind started to pick up once more. "Good luck on your adventure young Yuugi."

The wind grew stronger and stronger and just like that she was gone. "Mai?" He said as he looked around for her. But she was gone. _'Where did she go?' _It seemed kind of odd how she just disappeared like that. Maybe there was such a thing as magic.

Sighing he reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out the apple. "Even if I am supposed to have my own '_fairytale'_, how do I know what I'm supposed to do or even where to go?"

A slight breeze picked up. "Let the magic guide you." Mai's voice whispered in the wind.

Yuugi sighed as he looked down at the dirt path before finally settling his gaze on the town. Something with in him was telling him that's where he should be going. _'Well, as they say the first step is the hardest. Or at least I think that's what they say.' _

He continued down the path that he had started on to the town. Someone in that town should be able to answer all the questions he had running through his head.

As he walked along the path to the town the trees along the path turned into bushes. Yuugi stopped walking when he thought he heard a rustling in the bushes. He froze as he stared at the bush. Was this it? Was this his fairytale? Had he been brought to this world only to be killed?

Yuugi stared at the bush. He couldn't move, his feet felt like they were made of stone. The rustling continued for a few more moments before a small, green frog came bounding out of the bush. He let out a sigh of relief as he fell to his knees. He then turned red in embarrassment seeing now that it was only a frog that had scared him.

Yuugi glanced back down at the frog, only to see the frog staring up at him. "Hey," He began in a soft voice. "What are you doing all the way out here?" Shouldn't the frog be near a river or a pond or something of the kind?

He reached out to grab the frog only to have it jump back. "Don't touch me." The frog said in a sharp tone.

"AH!" Yuugi yelled as he fell backwards in surprise. "The frog can talk." Well that certainly wasn't normal.

"Of course I can talk. All enchanted creatures can talk."

Enchanted creatures? He knew that he certainly didn't think that there was such a thing like magic or talking frogs when he first came here, but here was this little frog, proving him wrong.

Pushing himself up he looked down at the frog. "Enchanted?" He asked in a barely audible voice. What exactly did that mean? Was he once a person that got turned into a frog? Or was he a frog that had _'magic'_ cast upon him making it so that he could talk?

He thought he saw the frog roll his eyes. "You're not from around here are you?" Yuugi shook his head. The frog closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "My name's Yami."

"W…what?" Now he was confused. Why was the frog telling him his name when he still wanted to know what he meant by being enchanted?

"What's your name?" Did this person in strange clothing not know it was customary to tell one one's name when meeting one?

"Oh, I'm Yuugi."

The frog gave him a half smile. That was better. "It's nice to meet you." He said. "Where are you headed?"

"There." Yuugi pointed to the top of the town that could be seen. "Though I wish I could find someone who knows the land. I have a feeling that I might get lost on the way."

"It's not that difficult getting to town. All you really have to do is follow the path there. And the path is all downhill as you can see."

"How long does it take to get there?" Yuugi wondered because form where he stood it looked like it took quite a while.

"For you it probably wouldn't take more than a couple of hours. For me, being that I'm a frog, it would take a couple of days."

Yuugi took the frog in his hands before standing up. "You seem to know this land well. Why don't we go together? Unless, you were going somewhere else…"

Yami shook his head. "No, it's alright. I was headed there too in fact." Well, he was. He'd been traveling for a long time trying to reach the town. And now thanks to Yuugi it looked like he was going to go home for the first time in a long while.


	3. Chapter III

**Even In Fairytales: **

**Chapter III:**

The walk to town had taken about four hours. Most of the path was on a downhill slope, making it much easier to travel. In fact it had taken much less time than Yuugi had expected it would.

The entire walk to town had been really awkward to say in the least. Neither human nor amphibian really knew what to say. Yuugi had never met a talking frog before and Yami had never met someone from another world before. When they had talked it was always a question or some generic statement.

"Well, here we are." Yuugi announced as he looked up at the frog sitting on his head. At first Yuugi had been carrying Yami in his hands but after a while Yami had offered to ride on the boy's head. "I have another question for you."

"And what's that?" Yami asked as he looked down at the teen.

"How do people know what do in their _'fairytales'_?" He'd been wondering that for a while now. If he had his own fairytale, how was he going to know what he had to do?

"It's hard to explain. People just seem to know. I suppose the magic just guides them on their tale." There it was again. That word; magic. It seemed like Yami and the people here really believed that it was real. _'I guess I would believe it was real too if I grew up in a land that believed it was real.' _

The town had a late medieval feeling to it. Each building had the bottom half made out of bricks and the top half made out of wood. In the distance rising above all of these buildings was a magnificent stone castle. "There's a king here?" Yuugi asked as he walked down the streets, looking at everything curiously. He had never seen a place like this before. His amethyst eyes widened at everything in amazement and wonder. And everyone he passed gave him the same look.

"Yes, the high king of Alore, King Solomon, lives here. I heard that he's a very kindhearted man." Yami explained. "He lives in the castle with his grandson, the prince. Though I hear I high prince is just the opposite of the king. I hear that he's self-centered, conceited, egotistical jerk."

Yuugi had stopped walking and now was watching a woman weave. It was very interesting. Being in this whole town was like taking a step back in time.

Next to the woman weaving was a tavern. The teen looked at it curiously. "If you want to go in, just go in." Yami said, sticking his head out in-between Yuugi's golden bangs.

"Can I?" It was a pain not knowing the laws of this land. If he did go in it was going to be for educational purposes anyways. It wasn't like he was going to order a drink once he was in there. One, he had no money. And two, he just wanted to look at as much as everything he could. "I mean I'm only seventeen."

"I don't see why you wouldn't be able to. There are people younger that go in there. "

Right as Yuugi was going to open the door it was pushed open from the inside. A group of rough looking men walked out. "Move out of the way." A drunk man said as he brushed past Yuugi, knocking him out of the way.

Yuugi stumbled backwards before falling into a puddle of mud. Yami was flung from his head and landed in another puddle a few feet away. "Are you alright?" A female voice asked.

Looking up Yuugi saw a girl no older than fourteen watching him. "Yeah, I'm fine." He said as he stood up and tried to brush the mud off. "I don't suppose you've seen a frog around here have you?"

"A frog?" She repeated. She stood there for a moment thinking before a thought came to her. "Oh, he landed over there."

Yuugi rushed by her trying to get to the other puddle before something bad could happen to the poor little frog. "Yami?" He asked as he picked up the green, and now brown, frog. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." He answered in a stern tone. If it weren't for the fact that he was a frog he would've gone after those men. They would've paid for what they just did. No one pushed him around, but alas he was a frog and needed the assistance of a teenage boy to get around.

"I'm so sorry." The girl apologized. "Those men think that they can push everyone else in town around. It's really annoying." She paused. "Though they're not really that physical with anyone."

He raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean exactly?" He asked.

"I mean, they don't really push anyone around, in the literal sense, like they pushed you." She circled around him like a vulture circled dead meat. "It's probably because of your funny clothes. I've never seen clothes like that before."

Yuugi glanced down and took a look at what he was wearing. He was dressed in black jeans, a white t-shirt, and his jacket that were now muddied from that puddle. He bit his lower lip. He knew he looked different but he never thought it would cause any problems. "Um, I'm not from around here." Yeah, like it wasn't already obvious.

The girl just nodded. "That explains the clothes, but is it costmary where you live to carry a frog around with you?" Yuugi looked at the frog in his hands. He wouldn't say it was customary because no one back home carried frogs. In fact the only ones who carried frogs around were little boys. "My name's Mana by the way."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Yuugi and this here is Yami."

The one called Mana bent down and looked at the frog Yuugi was holding. "Aww, he's so cute." She cooed as she reached a finger out to pet its head.

"Don't call me cute." Why did all girls think that frogs were either cute or gross?

Her eyes widened in surprise before she smiled. "Wow, an enchanted frog. I've always wanted to find one." She looked at the frog for a moment longer before standing up. "Sorry, I lost my train of thought. Are you going back to your land anytime soon?"

Yuugi shrugged in response. He wasn't really sure. He wasn't even sure how he got there. How could he answer that? Besides Mai, his _'fairy godmother'_, said he had a fairytale. Which meant he was probably going to be there for a while.

Mana stood there for a moment, her gaze held a far off look. "I don't want to be mean or anything, but wouldn't you need more clothes and supplies than what you have? Because it seems to me that you only have that frog." Yuugi blinked. What was she getting at? "What I'm trying to say is that my sister, Isis, works as a seamstress and since you don't know when your going back wouldn't you want new and clean clothes?"

Yuugi glanced down at the frog to see what he thought of this. "She has a point, people have been giving you strange expressions as we've been walking around town. Then when you got pushed in the mud, they just got dirty."

"See I even have the frog on my side."

Yami glared at the girl. "He told you my name was Yami. Not 'the frog.'"

Mana huffed and crossed her arms. "Well, _sorry_."

The teen sighed as he looked from Mana to Yami. "By nice Mr. Grumpy. And you both had good points." _'And while I'm here I might as well blend in.' _He added in his head.

A smile lit up Mana's face. "Come on, my sisters shop is just this way." She grabbed Yuugi by the arm and pulled him down the street.

...

From an alleyway three figures watched the scene. "It looks like the one the prophecy spoke of is here." The biggest of the three spoke. It had to be; he was the only one who didn't look like he was from around here.

"Are you sure it's him?" The second one asked. There was no way to be sure of something that big. It was, _the prophecy_ after all.

"Yes, I'm sure." The first one replied, his eyes wandering to the trio. There was no doubt in his voice about it.

...

The shop that Mana said her sister owned was on the edge of town. It looked like one of the older buildings and no light was coming from the inside. "I know it looks empty, but we do get customers. It's just slow today."

Mana pushed open the door to the shop and entered with Yuugi right behind her. The shop might've looked small from the outside, but it was rather large on the inside. The entire downstairs area was one room. Leaning against the walls of the shop were rolls upon rolls on canvas. This must've been the shop and the stairs to the left must've lead to the living area.

"Isis, are you here?" Mana called up the stairs.

"What is it Mana?" A voice asked as a young woman descended the stairs. She looked at her sister before her eyes drifted over to Yuugi. "Oh, hello."

"Isis, this is Yuugi and his froggy friend, Yami. Yuugi, Yami, this is my sister, Isis."

"It's very nice to meet, uh, both of you." Her gaze shifted from Yuugi to Yami back to Yuugi again. "Where are you from, Yuugi? I don't recognize the style of your clothing."

"Uh, a far away place?" It was true. Though he wasn't going to say where from exactly because it would cause a lot of unnecessary confusion. And confusing other people wasn't on the list of things to-do, especially since he was still confused himself.

She wanted more of a vivid answer, but that would do for a while. "Well Yuugi of lands far away, how long are you staying here?"

"I think I'm going to be here for a while."

The woman studied him for a moment longer._ 'Could he be it? No he can't be, but still.' _ "I suppose Mana told you I'm a seamstress, am I right?" Yuugi nodded and answered with a 'Yes, Ma'am.' Isis just smiled and shook her head. "Please call me Isis, not Ma'am. Ma'am makes me feel old. Like I was saying, I feel Mana brought you here so I could make you clothes so you could blend in, correct?"

"I would be very grateful if you could make me some clothes, but I have no money to pay you with."

Isis just shook her head. "Nonsense, consider it as an apology." Yuugi glance down at Yami and saw the frog glancing up at him. An apology for what, the two wondered. "An apology for Mana."

She knew her little sister always spoke without thinking. Sometimes people didn't mind it, but sometimes it caused a lot of unnecessary anger from people. Yuugi didn't seem angry, but you could never be too sure.

"Isis!" Mana whined. Her sister was always apologizing to people that she met. She didn't like it. She hadn't done anything wrong and was getting better at thinking before she spoke. Besides all she had done was try and help him.

"Mana! Stop whining. You're too old for that." Isis scolded her little sister. Whining was another bad habit of hers.

Mana hung her head and nodded. "Yes Isis." The young teenage girl walked over to a counter and leaned on it as she watched the scene before her.

Isis had gotten out some spare cloth from other clothes that she had made and began measuring Yuugi with the scraps. The teen had placed the frog on the counter besides Mana to watch. "Tell me Yuugi," She began as she made some marks on the cloth. "Where are you and your amphibious companion staying at?"

"I'm sure we'll find someplace in town to stay."

The woman looked up from the cloth. "You don't know where you're staying yet?" That could be potentially dangerous. This town was had kindhearted people in, it but a lot of people were also dangerous. If you didn't know where to go you could be setting yourself up to meet the latter.

Isis studied Yuugi before going back at the cloth. "You could always stay here." Even though she just met him, therefore knowing nothing about him, she couldn't let him stay out on the streets.

Yami glanced up at Mana. "Is your sister serious?"

The girl just looked at her sister. "I'm not sure." Isis rarely invited people to stay with them. When she did it was always family members from the next town over that had come to visit. Never strangers.

"That…that's very kind of you, but I don't want to impose. I figured I could just find someone who would let me stay in their empty barn and let me work for as long as I stay there."

"We have an extra room that's not used for anything. As for earning your keep you could run errands with Mana for me."

Yuugi nodded. "Those sound like good terms. Alright then."

"I've got all your measurements written down here. Mana, will you please show our two guests to their room?"

Mana nodded as she picked up the frog and led Yuugi up the stairs. The upstairs was slightly smaller than the down stairs. Each side of the hallways had two doors. Mana led them to the second door on the left side of hall. "Here we are." She said as she opened the door for them.

Yuugi took Yami from Mana as he entered the room. The room was big enough for one person. There was a small window on the right side of the room. Under it was a double bed. Next to the bed was a bedside table with a candle on it.

Looking out the window he saw that it was just now turning dusk. _'I wonder what time it is back home?' _Did these two worlds have the same time or were they two different sets of time? He yawned as he sat on the bed. Right now it seemed to be running on the same time.

Mana giggled from where she was standing on the other side of the room. "You must be tired, coming from another land and all. I'll let you two get some sleep and tomorrow I'll show you around to all the normal places Isis has me running errands. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Mana. Oh, and thank you to both you and your sister."

Mana blinked. "For what?" She asked. What had they done that needed thanking?

"Well, for letting me, a complete stranger, and a talking frog stay here." They had just met him that day and were letting him stay there. For all they knew he could be someone waiting until they were all asleep before making off with their money and valuables.

"You're welcome. Good night, I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night." With that Mana left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Yuugi discarded his jacket and jeans before he pulled back the covers and climbed into the bed. He looked down at Yami, who he had placed on the sheets. "Where do you want to sleep?" He asked. "On the bed, pillow, or bedside table?"

Yami glanced at all three places before finally looking up at Yuugi, their eyes meeting. _'His eyes are full of innocence. How come I didn't notice that before?' _He shook his head, trying to get rid of all thoughts. "If you don't mind I'd like to sleep on the pillow." He said as he hopped onto it.

Yuugi shook his head as he laid his head down on the pillow next to where Yami was sitting. "No I don't. Goodnight" He yawned as he closed his eyes. Within a few moments he was asleep.

A smile crept onto the frog's face as he watched the boy sleep. Before long he found himself looking out the window and looking at the castle in the distance. He let out a wistful sigh before closing his own eyes and falling asleep.

**AN: So that's chapter three. Things in the romance department are going to be going a little slow for a while, well at least on Yuugi's end. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. **

**Princess Cornelia  
**


	4. Chapter IV

**Even In Fairytales:**

**Chapter IV:**

It had been exactly three days since Yuugi had arrived in the land of Alore. Currently the seventeen-year-old was lying on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. As he rolled over onto his side a sigh escaped his lips. "Still trying to figure things out?" A voice asked from above his head.

Yuugi glanced up at the frog sitting on the bedside table and nodded. Three days. It had been three days since he had came to Alore. Three days since he had met his fairy godmother and Yami. Three days since he had began staying here with Mana and her sister. And during those three days it was quiet.

"Well, these things take time. I hear the tales of the people from your world take longer to unfold than they would if you were from Alore."

Yami, himself, knew this from experience. His own fairytale started so fast. He hadn't even known that he was going to have his own fairytale. His fairy godmother had even said that originally he wasn't supposed to have one, but the choices that he had made in his life lead him to it.

Yuugi sat up, reached over and picked up the frog, placing on the bed in front of him. "Unfold? What do you mean? My fairy godmother told me that people write their own fairytales."

"Yes and no. Most of the fairytales have been repeated several times. Because of that the magic has a basic outline of how those tales should go. But it's the choices you make that influence whether you follow the good magic towards a happy ending. Or the bad magic that leads you astray." He paused. "Who is your fairy godmother, if I may ask?"

"Mai, she said her name was Mai."

Yami looked at him, surprised by the name of the fairy godmother. "Mai? Mai's your fairy godmother?" Yuugi bit his lower lip and nodded. He waited for Yami to tell him that Mai wasn't a very competent fairy godmother. But he didn't. "Wow, you're fairytale must really be something if she's you're fairy godmother."

Before Yuugi could respond the door burst open and Mana came bounding into the room. "Yuugi, Isis wants us to deliver a letter to a friend of hers on the other side of town."

"Alright. I'll be there in a minute." He told the girl. She nodded before leaving the room. Once she was gone he turned back to the frog. "Do you want to come?"

"Sure, why not." It was better than sitting around the shop all day.

Smiling, Yuugi picked up a bag that Isis had made for him to carry Yami around in. It was a small fabric pouch that was attached to a leather belt. Once he put it on he picked up Yami and placed him in the pouch. "Alright, let's go."

The town of Gemoceas was the biggest town in Alore. The trip to the other side of town to deliver the letter to Isis's friend was about a good fifteen-minute walk. While Mana was inside an inn, delivering the letter, Yuugi stood outside leaning against the wall, thinking.

"Its true, I tell you!" A voice yelled.

He was snapped out of his thoughts and craned his head towards the source of the yelling. At the same time Yami poked his head out of the pouch to see what was going on. They saw a group of people gathered around two men. "What if it isn't?" The second man yelled.

"What do you think their arguing about?" Yuugi asked the frog.

"I'm not sure, but I bet someone over there knows knows. You should ask one of them."

Yuugi nodded as he walked over to the crowed. "Excuse me." He said as he tapped someone on the shoulder.

The young woman turned around and looked at him. "Yes?" She asked.

"I was wondering if you could tell me what they're arguing about."

She sighed and shook her head. "They're arguing about the ancient prophecy."

Yami blinked and looked the woman before trying his best to glance up at Yuugi. He had heard the prophecy once before. But judging by the look on Yuugi's face this was the first that he had heard of it. "Ancient prophecy? What's that?"

The woman looked at him and blinked. "You…you don't know about the ancient prophecy!?" She exclaimed. Everyone knew about the prophecy, didn't they? It was unheard of to find someone that had never heard of the prophecy.

He took a few steps back and lowered his head. He hadn't known that it was common knowledge around here. It wasn't even from there. He opened his mouth to say something when he heard Mana calling him. He turned around and walked back over to the inn. "Ready to go?"

She nodded before she started walking in the direction of the shop. "Yep, let's go."

When the three of them got back to the shop right when Isis was finishing up with a customer. "Thank you for delivering that letter for me." She said as the customer was walking out the door.

"You're welcome." Mana said before she started to go up the stairs. "I'm going to go work on my stitching."

Isis smiled and shook her head as she watched her energetic little sister disappear up the stairs. Turing back around she saw Yuugi placing Yami on the counter. The teen looked like he was deep in thought. "What's wrong Yuugi?"

Sighing, he looked up at her. "I was just thinking about something I heard about while waiting for Mana." He paused, wondering if he should ask her about the prophecy. A moment passed and he figured he should. It would bug him like crazy if he didn't. "These two men were arguing about some sort of prophecy."

"A prophecy?"

He nodded. "I was going to ask the woman about it, but before I could Mana called me over and told me that she was done. I just dropped. I was wondering if you knew anything about it."

Isis said nothing as she walked to the front of the shop, closed the curtains and locked the door. She led them both up stairs and into the kitchen area. "Sit down and I'll explain it to you."

In the far mountains of Alore dark clouds shrouded a castle. Inside the castle the only light in the throne room was that of candles. A man stood on the dais with his back facing the three men kneeling on the steps. The man on the dais wore an ebony tunic, matching trousers, and polished boots. The three men on the steps were also dressed nice, but not as nearly as nice as he was. They were dressed in gray tunics, black trousers, and brown boots.

"What news do you have for me?" The man on the dais asked.

There was a short pause before an answer, "We think we've found the one the prophecy spoke of." The brunette man spoke.

"Valon," The blonde one hissed. "We don't know that for sure. Lord Pegasus I apologi-"

The one named Pegasus whirled around and cut him off. "I don't care if you found the one mentioned in the prophecy. I don't even care if you found the Queen of Sheba. I just want you to do your jobs and gather all the magic from the fairytales. Do you understand?"

The three men bowed their heads and nodded. "Yes sir." They said quietly in unison.

Isis and Yuugi were seated at the table in the kitchen. Yami was sitting on top of the table, both were curious about what Isis had to say. "First, I must say that I'm not surprised that you never have heard of the prophecy. When you first came here you told us that you were not from Alore." She sifted her gaze from Yuugi to Yami. "But I have no doubt that you have heard of it."

The frog nodded. "Yes, but since it was so long ago when I last heard it I don't remember exactly what it was about."

She nodded. "I understand. Now where to begin, as you know Yami, the prophecy is as old as Alore itself. At first the royals only knew about the prophecy, for it was the royal astronomer that foresaw it. Over time it started to leak out all over town and the royals had no choice but to come out with it and tell everyone."

That made sense. If it was already being leaked out why not tell everyone. "And why where the men fighting about it?"

Isis closed her eyes for a moment before opening them. "Being that the prophecy is so old not many people believe it anymore. But we're getting off topic. The prophecy goes like this, 'Only when the high prince vanishes will the hero from another land appear. This hero has a mission that will only become clear when he sets out on a quest across the land of Alore.'"

Isis rested her gaze upon Yuugi once more. "And I believe that you are the one the prophecy spoke of. The high prince went missing only two weeks ago and hasn't been seen since. Then you showed up dressed in clothing from another world."

"I believe you're right about that Isis." Yami said. _'Expect for the part where I haven't been seen since.' _He added to himself.

"What exactly is it that I need to do?"

"What you need to is in the prophecy. You needs to travel across Alore and only then will you find out why you were truly sent here."

Yuugi started at Isis. It was safe to say that he was the most confused one there. First Mai and now this prophecy. Did no one want to tell him why he was here? From what he was hearing it sounded like he had to go on a quest to find out why he was sent there in the first place. That made no sense what so ever. Yet to Isis it made perfect sense.

Yuugi pushed back his chair and stood up. "I need to be alone for a while. I need to sort this all out." He said as he left the room and walked across the hall to his own. Once he was alone in the room that he shared with the frog he walked over to bed and sat on it.

As he thought about what Isis just shared his thoughts drifted back to his own world. He wondered if his parents knew he was missing. And if they knew that Yuugi was missing, were they looking for him? Probably. As his mind filled with thoughts of his home his eyes grew heavy. It wasn't before too long until his body succumbed to sleep.

When Yuugi had left to go to his room Yami frowned. This boy was a stranger in this land called there to do something important. Yet no one but Fate and his fairy godmother knew why. The only thing that Yami knew was that if he had been a better person then Yuugi wouldn't be there in the first place. _'But then I never would've met him.' _

Fate was funny sometimes.

AN: I meant to have this updated on Sunday, but it took so long to get the chapter the way I wanted it to go. The romance should start soon-ish, once I get past the whole 'Yami's a frog' problem. Trust me, he's not going to be that way forever. Until next time,

**Princess Cornelia **


	5. Chapter V

**Even In Fairytales:**

**Chapter V:**

A week later Yuugi was in his room packing. While he packed Mana was sitting on the bed watching him. "Do you really have to go?" She asked for what probably was the tenth time that day. It really didn't seem fair. It seemed like he had just came when all of the sudden he had to leave.

"Yes, I'm afraid I do. Your sister said that I need to go on a quest to find out why I'm here. And that's why I'm packing, so I can go on that quest." He tried to explain to Mana for what probably was the tenth time that very day.

Yami was sitting on Mana's lap. He had been quiet the entire time Yuugi had been packing. It was saddening to know that when he was done Yuugi would be leaving. He wanted to go with him and help, but he figured that Yuugi probably didn't want a frog to go with him. After all what could he really do?

Silently Yuugi did a last minute check to make sure he had everything _'I think that's it.'_ He did one last quick scan of the room when his eyes fell upon Yami.

It was strange, but at times he forgot that Yami was a frog. Most of the time he felt that Yami was just another person. A person that he wanted to get to know better, to spend time with. And it didn't feel right leaving him behind. "Yami," He began nervously. "Do you want to go with me?"

Yami glanced up at the teenager. "Are you sure?" Why would he want a frog to go with him?

Yuugi smiled at the frog and nodded. "Nothing would make me happier."

"I'm a frog. I can't do much." He reminded the teen.

"I know but it doesn't feel right leaving you behind."

That made Yami smile. "Then nothing would make me happier than to accompany you."

Hearing this Mana then let out a loud sigh to which Yuugi just laughed. "I'm sorry Mana. I know you want to go as well, but Isis needs your help here."

Yami hopped off her lap and she stood up and hugged Yuugi. "You're the first friend I've had in a long time."

"Mana, I know you don't like the idea of losing a friend, but people always come into our lives and sometimes they don't stay as long as we would like them to." Isis tried her best to explain as she made her presence known.

"But-"

"But nothing." Isis continued. She knew exactly what her sister was going to say. "Yami's going with him because Fate wanted them to be together on this journey. Do you understand?"

Mana sighed as she nodded. As much as she hated to admit it her sister was right. If Fate wanted her to see Yuugi again then she would. "Yes, I understand."

"Good, now I think it's time to work on your stitching."

Mana nodded and said nothing as she left the room. When Mana had left Isis turned back around to see Yuugi picking Yami up off the bed. "I want you both to be careful." She began as approached him. "You know Alore is a land of tales old as well as new. And some of the tales are more dangerous than others. So I want both of you to be careful for you never know what could happen. Be on your guard at all times."

They both nodded. "We will. Thank you for everything Isis."

"You're very welcome Yuugi." She said as she pulled him in a hug, "Take good care, both of you. I hope all goes well for you."

It was time to leave. There was no denying it. He was packed and now ready to set out across the land of Alore. After placing Yami in the pouch he took one last look around before walking out the door. The seventeen-year-old let out a sigh. It was probably the last time he was going to see the shop.

He slowly walked away from the shop and tried his best not to look back. He knew if he did it would just make him feel worse than he already did. As he walked away he thought he heard Mana calling him. Yuugi paused for a moment and shook his head. It was probably in his head. When he stopped however it just got louder. "Yuugi!" Finally he looked over his shoulder and saw her running towards him, waving a piece of paper. "Finally, I go you're attention. Here!"

Yuugi blinked as he took the paper from her. "What's this?"

"It's a map. Sister said she forgot to give it to you before you left and asked me to run it to you."

"Thanks." He said as he looked at it.

Mana was silent as Yuugi studied the map. "You're coming back right?" She couldn't help it. She had to ask. She wanted an answer from him.

Yuugi looked down to see Yami poking his head out of the pouch. The frog was looking at him curiously; for he also wanted to know if they were coming back. "I…I honestly don't know Mana." He answered truthfully. He knew how she felt for he too hated the idea of losing a great friend. "If I can I will."

"Bye." She said as she hugged him one last time.

"Bye Mana." After one last goodbye he began walking, disappearing in the crowd of people.

----

Valon held a blue, swirling ball in his hands. He smirked as he watched the scene before him. Snow White's happily ever after was no more. Her coffin was no longer golden instead it was black and white. Even if Prince Charming kissed her she would never wake up. This would be her fate for all eternity.

He had completed his mission successfully. "Lord Pegasus will be pleased." He said.

----

They hadn't been traveling for very long before Yami decided to poke his head out and see where Yuugi was going. "So, where are we headed?" Yami asked as the teen made his way through the town. It looked like Yuugi was headed to the forest, but he wasn't too sure because there was also a path that lead out of the town in that same direction.

Yuugi shrugged. "I'm not sure. I'm just going to do what Mai told me to do and let the magic guide me."

The frog smiled. When he had first met Yuugi the boy hadn't believed in magic, but now it seemed that he did more and more with each passing day. "That's the best advice that you can give to anyone, especially to someone not from Alore."

"Even if the don't believe in magic?"

Yami nodded. "Even if they don't believe in magic."

Yuugi's gaze fell to the ground. When he had first arrived there he hadn't believed in magic. In fact he thought he had been either dreaming or been the target of some kind of joke, though it had been proved wrong after a while. But the more and more time he spent here the harder it became not to believe in magic.

When they reached the edge of the forest Yuugi pulled out the map. "According to the map it looks like we're about to enter the Elder Forest." He looked back at the town one last time before taking a deep breath in. "Well, it looks like this will be the first step into finding out why I'm here."

Elder Forest was a dense concentration of trees. The trees were so close together it made it hard to get by them. The floor of the forest was over grown with vines. And the lack of light didn't help very much either. It was the perfect place for veil creatures to hide out in. "Yami, do any kind of monsters or evil creatures live in this forest?"

"None that I know of. But you never know, so let's tread cautiously."

"Alright." He stammered as he slowly began walking, trying his best not to trip over the vines.

Yuugi glanced down at the map again quickly locating Elder Forest. He looked to see if some sort of path went through it. It would be easier to travel through the forest that way. "There. I found a trail, but how do we find it from here?"

The frog was silent for a moment. "Well, where did we enter the forest from?"

"I'm not really sure, all I know it was from the edge of town."

Yami sighed. "I guess that means if you're meant to find the trail you'll find it."

Yuugi folded the map and put it in the bag. "Or it means I should've been paying attention."

Yami smirked. "There's that too."

After that they travelled in silence for a while. It was mainly because he wanted to concentrate on the ground so he knew where to step and where not to step. He blinked when the vines and ferns seemed to be suddenly cleared away. His eyes followed the newly cleared path to an opening. "Yuugi, what's wrong?" Yami asked, wondering why the boy had stopped walking.

"Do you think the people in that cottage right there know how to find the trail?" He asked as he pointed at a cottage right in the middle of the clearing.

Yami's gaze moved from Yuugi and to the cottage in the clearing. The cottage had been made out of logs and had a very rustic feel to it. The windows were covered in a maroon colored fabric. It was surrounded by a white fence and had a small vegetable garden next to it. "It's possible."

"I wonder who lives there."

"My grandmother lives there." A new voice came from behind them.

Right as Yuugi turned around a figure emerged from the brush. As he studied the figure carefully he wondered what fairytale could've possible came from. They were dressed in a red cloak and carrying a basket full of sweets. Little red riding hood was the first tale that came to Yuugi's mind.

The figure also studied him for a moment before they removed the hood of their cloak reveling the figure of a boy around Yuugi's age. Maybe even a year or two younger. He had pale skin, long white hair, and soft amber eyes. "May I ask why you are traveling in Elder Forest?" He spoke in a soft voice. "Not many people travel through here because of dangerous creatures."

"I was told I have to go on a quest and that quest has led me here to Elder Forest." Yuugi tried to explain.

The boy's eyes widened in surprise, just now realizing who he was talking to. "Pardon me great savoir. I had no idea it was you."

"Savior?"

He nodded. "Just last night the fairy godmother, Mai, appeared to me and told me a petite lad who is travelling through this land on a quest with an amphibious companion. And you are small and have a frog with you." He said his gaze now on Yami. "She told me to help you in any way I can."

"By not calling me 'savior' would help a lot." What was that even supposed to mean? It was against he's better judgment to ask because knowing Mai she had probably told him to not to tell him.

"But-"

"My name's Yuugi." Yuugi smiled and gestured to the frog in the pouch. "And this is Yami."

He smiled back at that. "It's nice to meet you both, I'm Ryou."

"It's nice to meet you as well."

After all of the introductions were done Yuugi glanced back at the cottage. "So, your grandmother lives there?"

Ryou nodded. "Yes, but she's ill. So my mother wanted me to deliver a basket of homemade sweets to her." Yuugi couldn't believe it. Little Red Riding Hood used to be one of his favorite fairytales and here he was conversing with one of the characters from it. "But I'm afraid."

"Afraid? Of what?"

"That I'm being followed."

Yami and Yuugi looked at each other. Before either of them could say anything there was a low growl.

**AN: I swear it was like birthday week or something. Every day it seemed like someone in at least one of my classes had a birthday, including myself. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the latest chapter. I also apologize for any errors I'm getting sick and tend to leave more errors when I don't feel good. **

**Princess Cornelia **


	6. Chapter VI

**Even In Fairytales:**

**Chapter VI:**

Yuugi glanced over at Ryou only to see him quivering with fear. "It's him." He whispered his in a barely audible voice.

"Who?" Asked Yuugi and Yami in unison.

"The one that's been following me. He is known as Marik the Wolf."

"Marik the Wolf?" He repeated. Yuugi didn't recall the wolf ever having a name in the story.

Ryou nodded. "Yes, he's a shape shifter. He can take on the form of anything of his choosing, but he likes taking the form of a wolf. And for some reason he always does it whenever I'm going somewhere."

There was silence for a moment before another growl came. Ryou's face paled even more than it already was. There was no way he was placing his new friend in danger. "Come on, we have to get out of here." He grabbed Yuugi by the wrist and pulled him in another direction away from the cottage.

"Are you sure he won't follow us?"

"Oh, I know he'll follow us." Ryou called over his shoulder. He had done this several times before. "But we can lose him through the trees."

The two teens ran for quite some time, weaving in and out of trees trying their best to lose Marik. When they thought they had lost him they stopped and slowed their pace to a walk. Only when they spotted the wolf once more did they begin running again. After a while they stopped traveling altogether and rested. When they did Yuugi reached down and opened the pouch. "Yami," He began as he took the frog out. "Are you alright?"

"Mmmm…" The frog groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. "That hurt."

Yuugi bit his lower lip. "Sorry."

"Is he alright?" Ryou asked. He felt bad. That poor little frog was hurt because of him.

"He should be fine. He just needs to rest." Yuugi said as he gently rubbed the frog's head with his index finger, trying to coax him to go to sleep.

"I'm sorry, this is my fault."

Yuugi shook his head. "No, it's no one's fault, these things happen. Like I said, he just needs to sleep. He should be fine when he wakes up." Leaning back Yuugi found himself resting up against a tree. He glanced up and through the thick forest canopy he saw that it was just turning to dusk. "Let's just rest here for the night."

Ryou nodded as he sank down next to Yuugi. Yuugi placed Yami in the palm of his right hand and reached down to bush away the fallen leaves, clearing a spot for him to sleep. "Good night Yami." He said softly before giving the frog a small kiss on his head. After he placed Yami in the bed in leaves he glanced next to him and saw Ryou sleeping soundly.

He giggled softly; they both looked very cute as they slept. His eyes grew heavy and his body tried to tell him to go to sleep as well. _'I'll go to sleep in a few minutes.' _ He told himself as he listened for anything in the bushes. He had seen the wolf a few times while they were running and knew the wolf could be rather sneaky. He elected himself to wait and see if he could hear anything before going to sleep. Yuugi heard nothing. Waited a few more minutes and still heard nothing. _'I guess we lost him.' _He thought to himself as he laid down to go to sleep.

Unknown to them was that a pair of eyes was watching them from the bushes.

----

The white haired man peered out the window of the stone castle to the courtyard below. It was a dark and desolate place and some might call ugly, but to him it was beautiful. Gray was the perfect color, not too dark and not too light. Every since he had been exiled by the high king all those years ago he spent his time in this colorless place. And in that time he grew to hate the color and good magic from these so called _'fairytales'_.

Pegasus turned around and went into another chamber. It was dark save from the only light from a purple gemstone that sat on a pedestal in the middle of the room. It was where they stored all the magic once it had been drained from the fairytales. _'Soon,' _He thought to himself. _'Very soon and all the magic will be mine.' _

When all the magic was his he would be stronger than the high king. He would become the new high king. _'Then I'll exile dear, old King Solomon and his grandson and see how they like it.' _

Pegasus snorted at the thought of the prince. Now that he wouldn't even have to exile the prince. He was already gone. Even though the high prince had been missing for sometime no one had shown up in Alore. The prophecy had failed the kingdom. Yes, his own followers said that they had seen the one the prophecy spoke of, but nothing had happened after that.

Nothing could stop him.

----

A pair of crimson eyes opened slowly. "Huh?" Yami said as he glanced next to him and saw Yuugi sleeping peacefully. A smile tugged on the corner of his mouth as he watched this beautiful person sleep. _'Beautiful? Where did that come from?' _He thought to himself as he sat up. _'Well, I guess I always thought he was sort of beautiful.' _

Sat up? _'Wait a minute.' _ He looked down and the first thing that his eyes fell upon was a pair of bare feet attached to a pair of bare legs.

In a daze, he pushed himself up on his new feet. Right as he was about to take his first step he lost his balance and fell right back down on his butt. It took him a few tries, but he finally got used to them.

Once used to walking on two feet he searched the area around. He found one only twenty yards away from where the two boys peacefully slept. He kneeled down next to it and saw his reflection in the glassy water. His eyes widened when he saw himself. He was no longer a frog. He had his body once more. And his response to that was that he screamed; nice and loud.

Just what the hell was going on? He was a frog just the day before and now he was a human again. The enchantress that had turned him into a frog said that only a kiss from his soul mate could ever turn him back into a human.

But he didn't remember being kissed. In fact that last thing he remembered was being bounced around in that stupid pouch and Yuugi taking him out and apologizing. Everything went black from there. Sighing he looked back at his reflection and realized that he had another problem.

He had no clothes.

----

Yuugi groaned as he sat up and yawned. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around. To his right he saw that Ryou was still sleeping. But to his left where Yami should've been was empty. He blinked. "Yami? Where are you?" He asked as he got on his hands and knees, searching for the frog.

_'Oh no,'_ He thought as his heart stopped. _'What if that shape shifter found us while we were sleeping and ate him?' _He knew he would never be able to forgive himself if something like that happened to Yami.

"Yuugi?" Ryou asked sleepily as he sat up. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for Yami. I can't find him anywhere."

Ryou froze. He seemed to be thinking the same thing that Yuugi had been about Marik finding them and killing the weakest of the three; a poor defenseless frog. "I'm sorry." He apologized as he began to help Yuugi look for him. "This is entirely my fault."

Yuugi looked at Ryou bewildered. He seemed to blame himself for everything when it wasn't his fault at all. "How is this your fault? Let's just hope that he bounced off somewhere looking for water. He is a frog after all."

Right at that moment they heard a loud scream. Both teens looked at each other before they took off running in the direction of the scream.

It didn't take them long before they came to a river. Next to the river they saw a young man. Yuugi studied his profile for a moment noting how they looked slightly similar. Even though Yuugi had never seen him before there was something strangely familiar about him. He looked him over and turned red when he realized that this young man wasn't wearing anything.

"Are you alright?" Ryou asked as he slowly approached him.

Startled the young man looked in their direction. He smiled when he realized who they were. "Yuugi," He began as he stood up. Then he realized they had no idea who he was. "It's me Yami."

There was no doubt about it. It would explain that familiar feeling he got from him. "I know." He responded, his gaze falling to the ground, his face still red.

"Oh my," Ryou muttered when he got a good look at the frog-turned-human. "You, um, how do I put this politely, you're not wearing any clothes."

Yami turned a light shade of pink. "I know. Um, did you happen to bring any other clothes Yuugi?"

"Yes, I don't know if they're going to fit you but I guess we could try."

The three of them walked back to their stuff that they had left by the tree. Yuugi dug through his bag, looking for the clothes that were hidden under the food. "Here we are." He said as he handed the clothes to Yami.

Yami went behind the tree and changed into the clothes that Yuugi had just gave him. When he was done he found that Yuugi had been right. They didn't fit, at least not very well. The pants came up to about mid-shin and the shirt stopped right above his midriff.

Yuugi and Ryou couldn't help but giggle at the sight. "Here," Ryou said in between giggles, taking off his cloak. "You can use my cloak and see if that helps."

"Thanks." He took the cloak from Ryou and put it on. He then sat down next to the two teens, arms folded across his chest.

Yami was beyond frustrated. He wanted to know why he was human again. He had been going over what he remembered over and over again to see if he could remember anything new but nothing else came to mind. It was just the same sequence of events over and over again. "Yuugi," He began. He figured he might as well go ahead and ask. "What happened after I feel asleep?"

Yuugi stared at the ground. _'Should I tell him that kissed him before putting him down'_ He thought, but then added. _'No, he'll probably be disgusted by it.' _"I cleared a spot next to the tree for you and put you down so you could sleep."

Yami let out a defeated sigh. "Oh." Well that had gotten him nowhere.

It just left him with one big question; what the hell was going on?

----

A short, elderly man in rich clothing walked slowly down the hallway. He stopped walking when he came to a door at the end of the hall. "Yami, my grandson," He spoke in a soft voice. "Where are you?"

"My lord?" A new voice came from behind him.

The king turned around and saw his most trusted advisor and friend. "What is it Mahado?" King Solomon asked in a weary voice.

"I take it the prince hasn't sent word yet." He asked.

"Yes, and I'm getting worried. He's been gone for over a month when he was supposed to be gone a week visiting Prince Otogi."

Mahado was silent for a moment before responding. "Is it possible that your grandson could be the prince spoken of in the prophecy?"

Solomon looked at him for a long moment. "You think my grandson is the prince spoken of in the prophecy?"

Mahado nodded. "I do indeed. I don't mean to speak out of place your majesty, but the prince is an arrogant jerk. He's different from all of his ancestors, especially his father Prince Akunumkanon, may he rest in peace, who very much took after you. The prince I must say I have no idea who he takes after."

King Solomon rubbed his eyes. "If my grandson is the prince in the prophecy then why has no one shown up?"

It was a fair question. In all the time that his grandson had been gone no one had shown up. The elderly king was beginning to doubt the prophecy. Mahado just gave the king a warm smile. "Don't worry my lord," He began as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure he's arrived. No one was ever told how it would unfold."


	7. Chapter VII

**Even In Fairytales:**

**Chapter VII:**

Marik watched the trio from where he was hidden in the brush. Still on Ryou's tail he had no need to change back just yet. He was going to make this boy pay for his father's actions. Even though it was many years ago he would never forget that day. It had changed his life forever.

His father had been a shape shifter as well and helped him prefect his skills as a shape sifter. Since he had came from a poor family all the food that they ate came from his father's hunting. One day he took Marik with him to teach him out to hunt when they came across Ryou and his father, who had been chopping down a tree for some firewood.

_Ryou's father had given his three-year-old son a new toy to play with while he worked on the tree. The child took the toy curiously from his father and looked at it before he attempted to put it in his mouth to see if it was something to eat. Finding an unpleasant taste he removed it and examined it more. He shook it once and was stunned to find that it made a sound. Smiling to himself he continued on shaking his terra cotta toy. That was until he shook it with such force that it slipped out of his grip and landed in the bushes._

_At that very same moment in time Marik and his father were passing by, looking for prey, when the rattle landed at the six-year-old shape shifters feet. He looked up at his father, his eyes asking the question; what should he do? Before his father could answer with spoken words the crying of a small child filled the air. The older wolf poked his head through the bushes and the smaller followed his suit. There was a small child, crying over the loss of his toy. "Let's return in to him, and then we'll continue on with our hunting lesson."_

_Marik nodded as he bent his head down and took the rattle between his teeth and followed his father through the bushes._

_The sound of the rustling bushes caught the toddler's attention. He stopped crying and out of the bushes he saw a wolf and his pup step out. All Ryou could do was look at the two for a moment in ponder before letting out a giggle seeing that younger wolf had his rattle. Ryou's father heard this and stopped for a moment to glance over his shoulder at his son. The man saw the two wolves and a sense of protection filled him. "Ryou, come here." He called to his son. The boy looked at his father and nodded his eyes now downcast as he went to stand behind his father._

_The father wolf approached the man carefully, trying to show that he meant no harm to him or his child. Apparently, however, to Ryou's father this was not the case. His grip tightened on the axe that was still in his hand. He, too, began slowly approaching the other. Somewhere in the middle the two met. The wolf stared at the man with an intense gaze. And the man stared back as he lifted his axe high above his head before bringing it down in one, big swing. He connected with his target. _

_The young shape shifters jaw dropped open and the rattle fell out. He turned and fled before this man could do anything to him._

Marik's whole body shuttered at the memory of his own father being murdered before him. He barely remembered anything else from that age, but that memory would forever stand out against the rest. He was helpless to do anything back then, being as young as he was, but he vowed as he ran away that he would get revenge on his father's murderer. But that was not going to be the case since the man had died several years ago. He was forced to settle for terrorizing his son. He wasn't going to deny the fact that it was rather fun to do.

As the old saying went; like father like son.

His thoughts drifted back to the present and he looked around the camp and noticed a few things. First, it looked like the frog that had been with them only yesterday was gone. Second they had a new companion with them. Questions quickly clouded Marik's thoughts. Where had that frog gone to and where had their new companion come from? It was strangely coincidental that as soon as the frog had disappeared they added a new person to their ensemble. The only way it would add up and make sense was if this person and the frog where one and the same.

Marik thought for a moment before snickering. That was it wasn't it. The frog and their new companion were one and the same. It sure explained a lot of things. A new question arose however. People didn't turn into enchanted animals without a reason. Though enchanted frogs were rare his mother had once told him. Normally if someone had been turned into frog it meant several things. It meant that said person was of some high ranking and they had done something to displease the magic around them and a fairy godmother had no choice but to turn them into a frog.

And if he had been a member of nobility then just who had he been? And what had he done?

He could only think of one possibility of who he could be and that would have to be of the high prince.

----

Eating and packing had surprisingly taken less time than Yuugi had thought it would. While he and Ryou were packing Yami had decided to take the opportunity to get used to walking on legs. And Ryou had taken the opportunity to ask Yuugi just what was it that he was supposed to do. While they packed the rest of their belongings up Yuugi told everything that had happened to the white haired teen up to that current point in time.

Well everything save for a certain kiss and a few other things. Leaving out one little detail couldn't hurt anyone could it? It was the excuse in which Yuugi tried to convince himself that that was the only reason he didn't tell anyone. The real reasons were for some reason he didn't feel comfortable in sharing it with anyone, especially to a certain frog-turned-human. At least not yet.

Yuugi picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "Well, I think that's everything." He said as Yami made his way back over to them. "I think we should travel along the river for a little bit and see where that leads us."

Ryou scrambled to his feet picking up his basket of sweets along the way. Basket of sweets? His eyes widened. Grandmother! His grandmother must've been worried we hadn't shown up yesterday. He almost pondered going back there to see if she was alright, but Mai had told him to go with Yuugi when he met up with him. _'I'm sure everything is all taken care of.'_

The small group walked along the river in silence for a long while. Occasionally Yuugi found himself glancing up at Yami, studying him more in depth then he had that morning. If he had been asked to describe Yami in one word the one that came to mind was exotic. Everything about him just seemed to fit; his crimson eyes, his tanned skin, his build.

Everything.

Lost in his thoughts he hadn't noticed that the other two had stopped walking. He bumped into something hard and fell backwards. Two hands wrapped around his wrist and kept him from meeting the ground. Looking up he saw it had been the current holder of his thoughts that had kept him from falling. "Are you alright?" He asked as he pulled him back up into a stable standing position.

Blushing from the contact Yuugi nodded. He lifted his gaze and looked around and found the reason they had stopped. There it was as plain as day, A bridge and the path that lead up to it. "I see we found the path." He stated rather bluntly as the crossed over the bridge.

Now that they found the path it would make traveling through the forest a lot easier.

----

The new found path seemed to flow rather smoothly and eventually led them to a fork in the road. "What way?" Ryou asked as his amber gaze studied both path. One looked like a continuation of the path that they were one, smooth going. And the other looked darker, scary even.

Yuugi studied the two paths for a moment before he closed his eyes. He lifted a hand and pointed towards a path. "This one." He announced as he opened his eyes to see his choice.

Ryou's eyes widened at the choice. "A...are you sure?" He asked his voice strained. He didn't mean to question Yuugi's choice, but why did it have to be that path. There was no telling what could happen if they went down that path. The same was true for the other path, but the other path didn't look as creepy.

The teen nodded. "Yes, let's go."

"If you're sure." Yami whispered as he and Ryou followed him.

----

Marik grinned to himself as he watched them start down a new path. This dark path would be perfect. The lack of light almost completely made it so he could follow them easy without them knowing. 'I must remember to thank that little shrimp for choosing this one.' He thought as he started down the path after them.

----

Valon was sitting up in a tree, bored out of his skull. Being a look out was rather boring. He glanced down at the trail as he did periodically he noticed the trio. "Where are they headed?" He mused to himself. From the looks of it they looked like they were headed towards where Raphael and Alister were busy gathering magic from. That couldn't turn out well.

As he tried to think of what he could do a wolf came into his line of sight. 'Perfect.' He could certainly use this to his advantage. He smirked to himself as he dropped down off the branch.

Marik had been close behind them until something or rather someone dropped in front of him. "Who are you?" He growled at the man in front of him. Whoever this man was and whatever he wanted had better been good. His prey was getting away.

"I apologize for dropping in unexpected. Allow me to get right to the point my name is Valon and I need your help."

Marik studied the man in front of him. "You need my help? With what?" This was certainly an interesting development. No one had ever asked for his help before.

"I know your following those three and I don't want them to go down this path."

The wolf raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because I don't think the witch from Hansel and Gretel would appreciate it very much."

Marik's mouth formed an 'o' shape. If a fairytale was in a middle of developing it wasn't normal to get involved with it unless there was orders from a fairy godmother or other such circumstances. But this was a perfect opportunity for him to terrorize Ryou. "Alright, I'll help you."

Valon smirked. "Good, now follow me."

----

Ryou's eyes widened as he looked around. Every which way he looked were old, decrepit trees. Some with branches so bent that it looked like they were trying to lean down a touch him. Light was barely visible more so than it had been before and the hooting sounds of the owls seemed to echo. "Yuugi, are you sure that this is the right way?" He asked as he ducked under a branch.

"Yes, I'm sure of it. I know it's creepy but it feels right."

Yami sighed as the teen lead them down the winding path. _'Why would magic lead them down this path? 'Is it trying to put him in danger? But why would it do that? He's done nothing wrong. How could he, he's such a sweet and caring boy. Not to mention beautiful as well. Very beautiful, especially with those pink, soft, kissable lips-NO! I'm not going to think about that. Not right now.' _Yami turned red as he shook his head, trying to make the thoughts disappear.

Ryou glanced that way that very moment noticed this and blinked. "Yami? Are you alright?"

He froze at the sound of Ryou's voice, his mind trying to come up with some kind of plausible excuse. "I'm fine, come on. We're falling behind." Yami took off running trying to catch up with Yuugi so Ryou wouldn't see his cheeks turning a light shade of red.

_'What was that about' _He studied them for a moment. He smiled cutely as he noticed the way Yami was looking at Yuugi. _'Is it possible that Yami could have feelings for Yuugi? That'd be so wonderful if they fell in love. They'd look so cute together.' _

He was so immersed in his thoughts that it took him a few minutes to realize how far he was falling far behind the other two. "HEY! WAIT FOR ME!" He called as he ran full speed to catch up with them. He pushed all the thoughts of trying to get those two together to the back of his mind.

A strong wind blew by and carried not only the owl's hoots, but a wolf's how as well. Ryou's heart nearly stopped. "Marik's still following us?" Yami asked as he looked around. Damn, that wolf wouldn't give up, would he?

As if on cue the bushes rustled before a grey, ragged-looking wolf stepped out into their sight. He licked his lips as he eyes the three of them trying to choose which one of them was going to be his next meal. His eyes met Yugi's amethyst ones and he smiled maliciously, bearing his teeth. Mind gone numb his legs on default began backing up.

A frown formed on Yami's face as he watched this. He had a bad feeling about this. He caught sight of Ryou out of the corner of his eye. The white haired boy looked about as uncomfortable as he felt. His gaze shifted to different spots in the area when he caught sight of a broken branch from a birch tree. He slowly backed up keeping the wolf in sight.

When Yuugi felt his back hit a tree he realized he was trapped. His mind went through everything he'd ever learn about wild animals, trying to remember anything about wolves. _'Alright what do I do? What do I do? I wish I could remember what to do.'_ However, nothing came to mind.

Marik sniffed the boy when a small pebble hit the wolf in the side of the head. He shifted his gaze over his shoulder when he felt a branch come into contact with the side of his head.

"Oh, you really shouldn't have done that."

"Just leave him alone. If you want one of us then I'm all yours." There was no way he was going to allow harm to come to either of them, especially Yuugi.

Marik gave him a huge smirk. "Fine, if that's the way you want it." This was going to be fun.

"Yuugi, go with Ryou and run."

Was Yami really asking him to just leave him there? "Bu-"

"Just do it." He wasn't really in the mood for an argument at the moment.

Yuugi glanced up at Ryou who only shrugged. "Let's go then." The two of them backed off slowly not to draw the attention of the wolf. When they were out of sight the two of them walked for a few more minutes before stopping. "I wonder if Yami's going to be alright." Ryou wondered. "Marik looks more vicious than normal."

"I'm sure he is." Yuugi said, though it felt like he was just saying to calm his own nerves. _'No, I can't think like that. He's going to be alright. He just has to be alright.' _He didn't know what he'd do if he wasn't. "We should go back there."

"What?"

"We should go back there and help. It's not right just leaving him there. We have to help somehow."

Ryou blinked. "How?"

"You still have those sweets don't you?"

Marik and Yami stared at each other; both of them trying to keep their guard up, both waiting for the other to make the first move. The wolf was crouched low to the ground, getting ready to pounce. The sharp end of the branch that Yami held was aimed right at his head.

"Well, well, well," Marik taunted him. It was time to test his theory and see if he truly was who he thought he was. "It looks like the prince has returned. Too bad no one will ever see you again."

Yami's eyes widened. What? How could Marik know who he was?

The wolf took advantage of Yami's current confusion to pounce. By the time Yami realized what he was doing it was too late, he had been pinned to the ground. The branch had been sent flying into the bushes. _'If only I had a sword, I could kill him easily. And not only would the three of us have a meal, but it would rid Ryou of this plague.'_

He felt the wolf's hot breath tickle his face. Saliva dripped for Marik's mouth and onto his check. "You know, I could've easily had killed the other two by now. I let them go because I thought that you'd be stronger and actually put up a fight. However, I guess I was wrong. You know, I'm going to kill you first. After you I'll slowly kill Ryou that way your little look-a-like can see what'll happen to him."

Yami narrowed his eyes as he propped up his knee so his foot was right under Marik's stomach. "I can't wait to have him pinned underneath me, much like your current position. I can't wait to claw at his flesh and taste his blood."

He swung his foot up and kicked the wolf right in the stomach. The wolf was thrown off of him. He jumped up and glared at the wolf. "You will not touch either of them especially Yuugi. They didn't do anything to you. Why are you following us anyways? What did we do to you?"

The wolf let out another growl. "Why should I tell you? Besides, do those two even know who you are? Do they know that they're traveling with the high prince? I bet if Yuugi knew who you really where and what you did he'd want nothing to do with you."

That was the last straw. It was one thing for Marik to insult his actions, but another for him to talk about Yuugi like that. He didn't even know him. Granted, he hadn't known Yuugi all that long either, but he knew him a hell of a lot better than Marik did.

"Hey, wolf boy!" A new voice called. The two of them looked over and saw Ryou and Yuugi standing there.

Ryou grew nervous once they gained their attention. He was still uneasy about this. "Now?" He asked Yuugi, who just nodded.

They both threw whatever sweets they had in their hands in another direction. One of Ryou's didn't quite make it and hit Marik in the head. "Oops." Ryou muttered.

The wolf glared at them. "What do we do now?" Ryou whispered.

"I don't know." Yuugi responded. He was out of ideas. He thought for sure the wolf would go after the sweets. Yami watched as Marik approached the boys. He reached out and yanked on his tail. The wolf let out a howl.

Seizing his chance Yami ran towards Yuugi and Ryou. "Let's go." He yelled as he grabbed Yuugi by the wrist, pulling him along. Yuugi reached out and grabbed Ryou.


	8. Chapter VIII

**Even In Fairytales:**

**Chapter VIII:**

Raphael and Alister barely had any trouble collecting the magic from this particular tale. The children had been easy to drain their magic from; the witch had been the hard part. However together they apprehended her and drained her own magic from her. Now their main focus had been on the candy-coated house. They just had to find the main center-point of magic to drain it from.

The center-point of magic ended up being the oven. Draining the magic from the center-point had certainly been interesting. Normally they would take the center-point with them so they had less of a chance getting caught, but they couldn't very well do that with this one. Instead they had to turn on the oven and collected the magic that way.

At that moment in time the blonde haired man was looking at the non-colored house. He was finished with what he had to do and was now waiting for Alister to finish up.

"Are you two done yet?"

Raphael looked over his shoulder to see Valon standing there. "What are you doing here? I thought you were keeping a look-out."

Valon just shrugged. "I was, but I tired of waiting and wanted to see if you were done yet."

Raphael just stared at Valon for a long moment before answering. "Almost, I'm just waiting for Alister to finish up 'round the back side of the house."

Right as he said that said man came out from behind the house. "Well, we can go report to Lord Pegasus now."

"Report what?" Valon asked the blonde as he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, report that we have started the draining of the magic."

The brunette raised an eyebrow. "Can I see the jar please?"

The third of the trio nodded as he took the jar that was supposed to hold the magic that they had collected from the fairytales. "Here." He said, handing it to Valon. It looked just like an ordinary jar, but it was anything but. It had a spell cast upon it to contain the magic gathered from other tales.

Valon took it from him and examined it. "It's only half full. And it's from the magic from this fairytale?"

The maroon haired man nodded. "Huh? It doesn't seem like a lot. Why don't we drain another fairytale before giving the magic we gathered to Lord Pegasus? It will just look like we're slackers if we turn this in."

Alister took the jar from him and put it in his bag. He opened his mouth to say something when they heard what sounded like voices. Raphael glared at Valon before he smacked him across the head. "You idiot!" He hissed. "This is why you were supposed to be waiting for us."

"Sorry." He hissed back. "Excuse me if no one ever travels this way." He had honestly thought other than those kids no one else was going to come that way. People traveling this was just unheard of.

"Let's just get out of here before they find us." Alister whispered as they ran off into the woods.

-----

Slowly, Ryou trailed along after the other two. They had long since stopped running when they felt they had put distance between themselves and the wolf.

His eyes were fixed of his empty wicker basket in his hands. The sweets that were meant for his grandmother were gone. Dazed by the basket he didn't notice that the other two had stopped walking and ran right into them.

Glancing up out of his trance he was about to apologize when he saw the reason why the other two had stopped walking. In front of them was a house made of gingerbread and candies. Only instead of vibrant color there was black and white.

"What happened? Why is it black and white?" Yuugi asked as he took a step forward.

Reaching out Yami grasped Yuugi's wrist. "Don't get too close."

"But why? Why is it not in color in the first place?"

"I think it's because there's no magic left. All of it has somehow been drained. Everything that had some form of color means that magic has touched it." Ryou explained.

"So, if you touch it what will happen?"

The white haired teen shrugged. "I'm not too sure. No one has ever touched anything with no magic before. Everyone is too afraid."

"What should we do?"

"Move on." Yami said as his hand slid from Yuugi's wrist to grasp his hand. "Where do we go from here?"

"This way." Yuugi said as he gently pulled Yami in a direction away from the colorless area. Ryou followed closely behind.

-----

The path they followed led them through the forest that eventually thinned out to become a meadow. Looking out across the meadow there was nothing to be seen expect for a white farmhouse with a stable off the side and barn behind it. "Maybe we can ask who ever lives there if we can rest for a bit." Ryou mused as they started to walk towards it.

"That would be nice." Yami commented as they started to make their way through the meadow towards the farmhouse. They had been walking for a few hours, but they deemed no place in the forest safe enough to stop, even if just for a bit.

-----

A short, pudgy woman stood on the porch of the farmhouse sweeping. As she swept she hummed a lovely tune. Watching her as well as humming along with her was her daughter.

Her daughter was a very unusual girl. It wasn't the way that she acted any different from everyone else. It was her size. She was small, very small; about the size of a human thumb really. Her name was Anzu for she had been born from an apricot blossom.

The small girl sitting on the railing lifted her gaze from her mother and looked out across the meadow. Her blue eyes widened at the sight of figures in the distance. "Mama," She called as she looked back at the sweeping woman.

"What is it dear?" The woman asked as she walked to the railing.

"I see people coming this way." The woman looked out into the meadow. Surely enough there were people coming this way. "Do you think that they're the one Mai told us about in her last visit?"

"I would say so since anyone rarely travels this way. And we'll do well to remember what Mai said and do whatever we can do to help them."

"Right." Anzu agreed as she gave a firm nod of her head.

------

As they got closer and closer to the farmhouse they noticed someone was on the porch. "Excuse us Ma'am. I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but" Yuugi began as they walked up to the steps by the porch. "We've been traveling for quite some time and were wondering if we could rest here for a bit. I mean I know you don't kn-"

The woman laughed as he cut him off. "No, it's alright. You three are more than welcome to rest her for awhile."

Ryou smiled at her and nodded. "That sounds great. But first let us introduce ourselves I'm Ryou, and this Yuugi and Yami." He said as he conducted the introductions motioning to someone whenever he said a name.

"Well, it's nice to meet all three of you. My name is Hadassah." She introduced herself as she went over to the porch railing and picked something up. "And this is my daughter Anzu."

All three of them started at the tiny girl in her hand. Anzu waved as she smiled at them. "Hello, it's nice to meet you." Muttered 'Hi's' and an 'It's nice to meet you too' were heard from the others. "We've been expecting you."

"You have?" Yami asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yep," Anzu chirped. "Mai, the fairy godmother told us you would be coming.

"Mai told you about us?" Yuugi asked as he looked back up at the older woman, who nodded. That fairy godmother seemed to be everywhere.

"Yes, and she asked us to aid you with whatever you needed." Hadassah explained. "And if you need a place to rest then so be it."

"You are most kind. To pay you for your kindness do you think it alright if we do something around here in return." Yuugi said. It wouldn't feel right, just resting without doing something in return.

"It doesn't matter to me, but I do have a few chores for you three to do. How does that sound?"

The three looked at each other and came to an unspoken agreement. "What are they?" Yami asked.

"Ryou, could you chop some fire wood? It's just off the side to the house."

"Of course."

She smiled before turning to the other two. "Yami, I would like you to wash the outside windows. There is soap, rags, a bucket, and a water pump just around the backside of the house."

"Alright."

And lastly I would appreciate it if you, Yuugi, could feed my horse that's in the stable over there."

"Sure." With that they three parted separate ways to get their chore done.

-----

Marik had cursed himself for losing sight of the trio. When he thought he had lost all hope it dawned of him that he had memorized the scent of Ryou long ago. It took him awhile but he was finally able to pick up a trail that the scent just kept getting fresher and fresher as he followed it. It eventually led him to a meadow. Looking out across the meadow he noticed a house. 'That must be where they all are.' He thought to himself as he slowly sauntered forward.

-----

Ryou was the first to finish his chore. As he waited for the other two to finish he sat at the table in the kitchen talking to Anzu. They chatted about nonspecific things for a while. "Hey Anzu," Ryou began after a moment of silence. "I have a question for you."

Anzu blinked as she titled her head to the side. "What?"

"Say you know to people who you are pretty sure want to be more than friends with each other what would you do?"

"Try to get them together of course."

Ryou sighed. He had thought that would have been her answer. "Yes, but how?"

The small, brunette pursed her lips together in thought. "Well, I'd try to get them to do something together. It's really hard to say." She gave a defeated shrug. "Sorry."

Ryou gave her a half smile. "It's alright. Thank you though." He said as he gave her a small pat on the head with his index finger.

-----

Yuugi stepped out of the stable and looked around. Yami was just fishing the side window to the house. "Do you need help?" He asked as his feet brought him closer to his destination.

Yami looked over his shoulder and saw Yuugi standing there, watching him. He shrugged as he bent down and picked up his bucket. "You can if you want to. I only have the front two windows left to wash."

The smaller smiled as he picked up another rag next to the one Yami was using to dry the windows with. "Two windows, two of us; makes sense don't you think? Besides I don't want to leave you out here all by yourself." _'Also, it would be a perfect opportunity to get to know each other.' _He added to himself

Yami gave Yuugi a small smile as he picked up the bucket and carried it to the front of the house.

-----

Between the two of them they were able to finish washing the front two windows in no time. Sighing, Yami turned to Yuugi. "Thanks for your help. It took a lot less time because of it. So thank you."

Yuugi nodded as he watched Yami dump the bucket of water out. "You're welcome."

Together they walked to the back of the house and put all the stuff back to where it had been originally before heading back to the front of the house. The door swung open and they came inside. "Oh, good. You two are done." She said as she looked at them. It was then she noticed that the clothes that Yami had been wearing did fit him quite right.

"I don't mean to speak out of turn, but my late husband was the about the same size of you. I think some of his clothes would fit you."

Yami's cheeks flushed as he looked down at what he was wearing. "Oh." He had forgotten all about it. "That's very kind of you, but you don't have to."

Hadassah just shook her head. "It's no trouble at all; it's just right up stairs. Follow me."

He glanced over at Yuugi who just shrugged. "Um, alright."

-----

After trying the clothes on ever one was gathered in the kitchen for some afternoon tea. "So," Hadassah began as she fixed the tea kettle. "Where are you three headed?"

"We're not too sure Ma'am." Ryou answered.

"If it's not too much trouble we'd like to take a look at our map and see where we could go next." Yuugi asked before she could set the tea cups on the table.

"Of course."

Yami took out the map, unrolled it, and laid it across the table. Hadassah smiled as she sat down at the table. She watched them pour over the map as she sipped on her tea. "So, where should we go from here?" Ryou asked as he pointed to a spot on the map, the spot that marked where they currently were.

Yuugi scanned the map. There were at least three ways they could go. "I think we should go to this town here." He said as he pointed to the city labeled Naim.

"Naim?" Anzu asked as she walked over to where the town was marked on the map. "Mama and I go there a lot, right Mama?"

"Mmhm, we can take you there if you'd like."

"Oh no, we couldn't possible ask you to do such a thing." Yuugi said. She had already let them rest in her house for a while and had given Yami clothes that fit him properly. Taking them to the next town over would be too much to ask over her.

Hadassah held up her hand to stop all the protests that they would voice. "I don't want to hear any of it. We go there a lot anyway so it'll be no problem taking you there with us. In fact, since all the chores for today are done we can go there after tea."

Ryou smiled widely. "Thank you; you're a very kind woman."

"If there's anything else I can do, let me know. Now, let's finish our tea. Afterwards I'll hook up the horse to the wagon and we'll head out."

------

After tea was finished Hadassah stepped outside to go hook up the horse to the wagon. As she stepped down from the porch she heard a low growl. She looked up out to the meadow and a wolf crouched down glaring at her. She stumbled back and let out a startled scream.

The front door flung open and Yuugi, Yami, and Ryou holding Anzu in the palm of his hand came out. "What's wrong?" Ryou asked as they looked around.

The woman glanced next to her and saw them. "That wolf startled me."

"Wolf?" Yami echoed as they looked out at the meadow. Surely enough there he was, sitting there, waiting for something. They recognized him immediately.

"It's Marik." Ryou muttered.

Hadassah had heard that and looked at them. "You know this wolf? Is he a friend of yours?"

"Not exactly." The prince muttered which earned him a jab in the side by Yuugi. He glanced over at the other two who tried to give a stern glare. "Yeah, he's our friend. In fact I need to go talk to him."

Yami stepped down the steps from the porch and walked into the field to greet their 'friend.' "Why are you still following us Marik?"

"That's my own business. Who is that woman?" He asked, nodding toward Hadassah.

"That's our own business. We just told her that you're our friend, so if you're going to stick around, at least try to get along with us."

Marik snorted and shook his head. "Fine, I guess I could try for a little while."

"Good, if you excuse me I'm going to see what I can do to help out inside."

------

The shape shifter said nothing as he laid down. He watched the prince walk towards the door and go inside. He figured he was safe there for a while at least. He didn't want to shape shift back yet, too much would be involved with that.

Once everything was all hooked up Hadassah went back inside to get the others. Marik poked his head up from where he was and watched it unfold. He stood up and stretched his back as he watched them all get into the back of the wagon. He trotted over there and stood next to the side of the wagon.

"Oh, is your wolf friend coming too?"

"Yeah, he's coming." Yami said he helped Yuugi up into the back of the wagon.

"Alright." She cracked the reigns and the horse took off running. Marik followed closely behind.

**AN: Wow, I did not mean to take this long to update. You should know this is not the original way this chapter went. I ended up disliking it and rewrote it with out affecting any of the future chapters. Next update won't take this long, I'll try an update sometime in the next week. In other news Bakura will be showing up soon, anyone care to guess what fairytale he'll be from?  
**

**Until next time,**

**Princess Cornelia  
**


	9. Chapter IX

**Even In Fairytales:**

**Chapter IX:**

Spread out across the rickety, wooden table was a map of Alore. This map wasn't an ordinary map. It had everything that a normal map would have, but it had a charm placed upon it. The charm reveled all the fairytales that were happening and where. Once they were done they vanished from the map completely. Gathered around the map were Valon, Alister, and Raphael. "So, what other tales could we drain magic from?" Alister asked.

Raphael traced over the map with a finger. "Well, it depends. Are we going for fairytales that strictly have happy endings or are we going for any fairytale regardless whether or not they have a happy ending?"

Valon ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, how about this; how about we gather all the magic from the fairytales that have happy endings first and then we go back and get the fairytales that don't afterwards. How does that sound?"

Alister drummed his fingers along the table. "That sounds reasonable; if that's the case then what fairytale should be the next."

"How about this one?" Raphael asked as he pointed to a spot on the map.

The other two glanced down and looked at where the third was pointing at. "Alright, looks like we're heading to Naim."

-----

On the way to town Yuugi, Yami, Ryou, and Anzu all rode in the back of the horse drawn cart. On the left side of the cart sat Yuugi and Yami just watching the scenery go by, not really paying attention to anything else. Every once in a while they took stolen, longing glances at each other.

On the right side of the cart was Ryou and Anzu. Though they hadn't known each other long they had forged a small friendship. And he held a friendly concern for the girl's size. "Isn't your mother afraid that you'll get squished riding back here with us?" Ryou asked as he looked at the tiny girl in his hand.

Anzu shook her head. It was nice to have a friendly concern for her size other than her mother's worries. "I'll be fine. She knows I'm safe if one of you is keeping me safe, like you are now." She told him as she looked over to the other side of the cart. Her eyes lingered as she caught a glance that they gave each other before looking back up at the one that was holding her. "Um, well, I was wondering if those two are the ones you were talking about earlier." Ryou just nodded. "Well, remembering our earlier conversation an idea just struck me."

He blinked a couple of times. "Really? What is it?" This was great to hear; maybe he could get an idea or two.

"Well, if you really want to get them together than I know of a place in Naim that's perfect. There's a rose maze not too far from town square. I've never been there, but I've heard good things about it in passing from people. This time of year a lot of couples visit it. They use it more as a test to see whether or not they can work together and see how their later life will be affected by it. I'm sorry I didn't say anything about it earlier. I honestly didn't remember anything about it before now."

"It's alright and even though you didn't remember it until now, it sounds like a great idea. Let's give it a try."

-----

Naim was a fairly medium sized town, not too small and not too large. Upon entering the town Marik had become human and walked alongside the cart as to keep from frightening anyone that they passed. Hadassah pulled the cart in front of a shop and stopped to let everyone out of the back. Yami was first, followed by Ryou with Anzu, and last was Yuugi.

When it came time for Yuugi to get out Yami reached up. He knew it wasn't that far off the ground, but figured he would still be polite and help him down. "Here let me help you." He said as he placed hands on Yuugi's waist.

"Thank you." Yuugi said as his cheeks became tinted red from the contact. _'Why am I blushing? All he's doing is trying to help me down.'_ He tried to push all other thoughts to the back of his head as he jumped down.

Instead of landing of the ground he was suspended at least an inch above the ground before being gently placed on his feet. "You know," Yami began in a low voice that only the other could hear. "You look even cuter when you blush."

That just caused him to blush even more.

"Hey guys," Ryou began as he looked at the others. He pretended not to notice what was going on. "Anzu told me about a maze that's near town square, let's go check it out."

"Eh, why not?" Marik said with a shrug; which earned him a glare from Yami that did not go unnoticed. "What?"

"Who asked you?"

"Well. Excuse me for having an opinion."

"Knock it off!" Yuugi told the other two before it became a full blown argument. He turned back to Ryou. "That sounds like fun. Let's go."

Anzu glanced up at her mother. "Mama, can I go too?" Her blue eyes held a pleading look. She really wanted to go. She had never seen it and this was her chance to go and see it.

The middle aged woman mulled it over for a minute. "Alright, but be back soon. We should get home before the sun sets."

"Don't worry; we'll get her back here in time." Ryou promised as the group took off.

-----

Three sets of eyes watched as a man placed a silver cufflink in the shape of a rose on top of a crimson pillow before climbing into a carriage. "This is certainly a new twist to Cinderella." Alister commented as the footman signaled to the driver that they were ready. "Why is it a cufflink instead of a glass slipper?"

"I believe it's because this 'Cinderella' is supposed to be a man."

"A man?" The other two chorused.

"But I thought the prince was looking for a wife?"

Raphael just shrugged. True, it was a different twist, but it was the twists that kept the tales similar, yet, different from each other. "Let's not worry about it and just do our jobs."

-----

Unbeknownst to the three there was a forth pair of eyes watching as well. They belonged to a small, dwarfish man. He narrowed his chocolate brown eyes as he watched the carriage roll down the street. _'This is just perfect.' _He thought to bitterly himself. _'I can't believe that I lost the prince to some…some nobody. If the prince can't be happy with the miller's daughter then he can't be happy at all. My only questions are when and how do I make my move.' _

_-----  
_

While they walked to the center of the town towards the maze Yami got a good look at Naim. It wasn't the people in the town that got to him it was the fact that the buildings looked very familiar. As they continued the stone wall surrounding a palace appeared. _'Of course. This is where Otogi's father rules over, why didn't I realize it before.' _

"Hey," Marik began as he stopped walking as a carriage baring the crest of the royal family rode past them. He really didn't know why he was following them, but thought it best to go with the flow. "What do you suppose is going one with the royal family?"

"Oh, there was a ball last night. Rumor has it that the prince fell in love with one of the attendees, but they left before they could tell him who they were. Now the prince is doing all he can to find them." An old man explained before he got back on his way to the market.

Before anything else could be said the carriage came to a halt. The footman hopped down from his post and opened the door to let the duke out. There first stop wasn't that far away. As he stepped out they watched a group of men stepped out of the shadows and approached him. "Excuse me my lord," The brunette piped up when they got in close vicinity.

The duke turned to look at them and raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you gentlemen?" The duke asked.

There was a pause before the blonde one cleared his throat. "Yes, we were wondering if we could see that cufflink there."

The duke drew the pillow closer to his chest. "I'm sorry, but where you gentlemen at the ball last night." He had to be sure. There was no way he was going to risk it. He needed to find this young gentleman for the prince.

"Sure we were." Alister commented. They could've been there; it wasn't like he remembered seeing all of those faces from that night.

"Then I'm going to need see the other cufflink. And unless you have the other then I'm sorry. I have a job to do."

Raphael snatched up the cufflink before the duke could do anything and examined it. After a moment he looked at the duke. "We live right this way." He began as they started to walk before they took off running, passing the group on the way.

It took a moment before the duke could fully comprehend what just happened. "HEY! GET BACK HERE!" He yelled as he dashed after them. The duke ran after them as best as he could before stopping in front of the group. He was an old man and needed help. "Please, please help me get back those cufflinks. I don't know what they want with them, but I need them to find the one the prince wishes to marry."

"Sure, we'll help you." Ryou answered before anyone else could.

The duke let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank you so much."

Yuugi flashed him a smiled and nodded. "You're welcome. We'll do our best to catch them."

After making sure that Anzu would be safe they split up into two groups and set off tracking them down.

-----

The dwarf also watched the whole thing unfold. _'I don't care why they want those cufflinks so bad. But if the duke can't find the one the prince wants then I say it's a good thing.' _

_-----  
_

As they were running through the streets Valon looked over his shoulder and saw people following them. "Hey, we got some followers." He called to the other two.

"Well, then let's split up." Alister commented as they came to an intersection in the street. Valon turned right, Raphael turned left, and Alister kept on going straight.

-----

"They split up." Yami commented as they got closer and closer.

"Then we will too." Marik said as he morphed back into a wolf and starting trotting one way. "I'll go this way."

"Yami and I will go this way then." Yuugi stated as they started to go the way Valon went.

"I guess that leaves this way for us then." Ryou told the girl that was in the wicker basket and started moving forward.

-----

Valon ran down the streets through an open air market place. He took a peak over his shoulder to see if anyone was following him and sure enough they were. _'I'm not even the one with the cufflinks.' _He thought to himself. _'I wonder how I could get them off my tail.' _

That's when a crate of oranges caught his attention. He smirked as he stopped next to it. Then he waited, waited, and waited for the right moment. When it came he knocked over the entire stack at the right moment.

Oranges spilled out all over the street and neither of them noticed before it was too late. They came tumbling down on top of each other. "Stupid bastard." Yami cursed under his breath as he looked underneath him only to come face-to-face with Yuugi. "Are you alright?"

"I…I think so, but you're kind of squishing me." Yuugi answered, blushing slightly.

He blinked a couple of times before he fully understood. "Oh, sorry." He apologized as he scrambled up to his feet. "Here."

Yuugi grasped his hand with his own and was pulled up. Immediately he winced in pain. "Ow!" He hissed as he held on to the other for support. "I think I sprained my ankle."

Glancing up Yami watched as the man disappeared before turning back to the injured one that was sitting. After examining it the best they could they could see it really starting to swell up. There was no way he'd be able to walk on it until they had it properly looked at. "Lay down."

"What?"

"Lay down, I'm going to carry you." It would be interesting to do this because to it correctly do this he needed to stand on Yuugi's feet, but not with an injured ankle. It took a while, but finally managed to correctly pull Yuugi up and onto his back so that he could carry him while they looked for the others.

------

Marik scampered down the street weaving in and out of people, ignoring the startled gasps that he gained from them. The entire time he tried his best to keep the man in sight. A couple times he lost sight of him, but quickly gained it back. He was happy that when he took this form on he gained characterless, such as speed, from it.

He was getting closer and closer and before he knew it was right behind the blonde. It only took a few more seconds to fill the gap. Marik opened his mouth and took a bite out of the man's back side.

The sudden bite caused Raphael to stumble and trip. The cufflinks went flying out of his hands and up in the air. Both of them watched it go flying right into the hands of a small child.

**AN: Yay, an update. I'm going out of town this weekend and I hope when I get back I have the rough draft of 5-6 chapters that come after the next one writen when I get back. **

**Also, thanks kuroneko1571 for poitning out the error in Chapter 4. It has been fixed. **

**Until next time.  
**


	10. Chapter X

**Even In Fairytales:**

**Chapter X:**

The child looked at the cufflink curiously, wondering what it could be. He examined it for a few more minutes before looking around to see where it had come from. Marik glanced over at Raphael, who just stood there, before taking a few steps forward to the child. It was time to put on his 'cute doggy' act.

He wagged his tail in an excited fashion as he approached the boy. The boy giggled as he came closer. "Hi Doggy." The boy greeted as he gave Marik a pat on the head. The wolf looked between the boy and the cufflinks, panting excitedly. He was hoping that the boy would understand. "Is this yours Doggy?"

Marik nodded and waited for the boy to respond. "Well, alright. Here you go." Right as he took the cufflink in his mouth, out of the corner of his eye he saw Ryou coming from one way and Yuugi and Yami coming from another. Looking over his shoulder he saw that Raphael had vanished.

"Looks like we should go tell the duke that we got it back." Ryou said as Marik placed the cufflinks in the palm of his hand.

"Where's Anzu?" Yuugi asked when he noticed the Ryou's basket was empty.

"Oh, I ran into her mother on the way back so I just returned her." Ryou answered. "Why is he carrying you?"

"I fell and my ankle was injured." He responded, not really wanting to get into the full details.

Before another word could be spoken between them the duke came running up. "Oh, thank the gods above. You got them back." He said as he took them from Ryou. "I'd like to personal invite the four of you to the palace so I can tell the prince himself of your good deed."

He turned to the footman and handed him back the cufflink. "You know what to do."

The footman just nodded as the carriage picked up and drove off.

------

_'What?'_ The dwarf thought as he peered from behind a corner watching them. _'They…they got the cufflinks back? Well, there goes that idea. I guess it's time I came up with a plan of my own.'_

_------  
_

"Wow." Both Ryou and Yuugi said in awe as they looked around the palace foyer. Hanging down from the ceiling was a waterfall of crystals flowing out into a ring candles. Off to both sides were carpeted stairs leading up to the unseen second floor. In front of them were two large wooden oak doors that lead to the throne room. They had arrived at the palace only a few moments before. Marik had once again become human as soon they had passed the palace gates.

As they looked around the duke ordered a servant to show both Yami and Yuugi where the healer was so they could look at Yuugi's foot.

The healer had informed him that his ankle had not been sprained, just bruised, and that he could walk on it with proper bandaging. So, with a bandaged foot they walked back down to greet everyone.

Right as they met the two of them the duke came in from the throne room. "His highness will see you now."

No one said a word as they followed the duke into the throne room. As they approached the dais the prince turned to face them. As he did they all swept down into a bow. "Your highness." They chorused.

"Please rise." Otogi told them.

As they rose up from the bow, Otogi looked each of them over and when his eyes landed on Yami they widened. Otogi's mouth opened, and then closed before opening again. Finally he found words to speak. "Yami? Is that you?" He asked.

It was at that moment Yami wished that he could've turned back into a frog. He gave Otogi a half smile. "Yes, it's me."

Otogi's expression then changed from shocked to angry. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He asked, his voice rose. He didn't give Yami a chance to answer before we went on. "You're the high prince; you can't just disappear like that."

"And the cat's out of the bag." Marik muttered.

Ryou's eyes widened. "YOU'RE the high prince?"

"The high prince?" Yuugi echoed softly.

An awkward silence filled the throne room. Yami glared at Otogi; Otogi, Ryou, and Yuugi all stared at Yami; and Marik looked at everyone with a huge grin spread across his face. Yuugi was the first to break the silence. "What's going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Otogi responded.

"Oh! This is great. Where's the popcorn when you need it?" Marik said.

Ryou gave Marik a funny look. "What's popcorn?"

He froze before coming to a realization that he didn't know what that was either. "I…do…not…know."

Before anything else could be said the door to the throne room opened and the footman entered followed by a young man with brunette hair. Everyone's gaze moved from the footman onto the young man standing behind him. "You highness-" The footman began.

"I know." Otogi cut him off as he brushed by everyone else. "You're the one, I just know it. What's your name? "

"Honda, you're highness." He answered keeping his eyes on the ground.

"Honda," Otogi repeated, enjoying the way his name rolled off his tongue. He placed his hand under the other man's chin and raised his head so they were making eye contact. "I know this is sudden, but I feel like I've known you forever. That's why I want to ask you this, will you marry me?"

Honda gave him a wide smile. "Yes. Of course, your high-"

"Please, call me Otogi."

"Yes," He paused for a brief moment. "Yes, Otogi, I will marry you."

"Aww." Both Yuugi and Ryou cooed. Marik made a gagging sound and Yami let out a sigh of relief that all of the attention had been shifted off him for the time being.

Otogi turned and looked at the group. He hadn't forgotten the anger he felt towards Yami for him just disappearing like that, but at the moment that didn't matter. "Seeing as you're not only friends with the high prince, but have done a wonderful deed for Honda and myself I invite you all to stay as long as you'd like."

Yami gave him a nod. "Thank you, Otogi. That is most kind of you."

The dark haired prince motioned to a guard standing along the side. "I want you to find a servant that can escort them to their rooms."

"Yes sire."

------

Yuugi was curled up on the bed in the room he was staying in, trying to process the information that he had just received. And that came with a few questions.

Why had Yami not tell him who he was? Did he not trust him? None of which he could answer expect for one; how did he feel about Yami?

He rolled onto his back and looked up at the ceiling. "Well, I dislike the fact that he didn't tell who he was. I guess he has his reasons. I mean I've kept something from him as well. I didn't tell him I had kissed him back when he was a frog."

He sat up when he heard a knock to the door. "Who is it?" He called.

The door opened and Yami poked his head in the room. "It's me, can I talk to you?"

"I guess." He took the invite and stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to Yuugi. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Yuugi, there is a reason why I didn't tell you who I really was. Before you do or say anything else can you hear what I have to say?"

"I'm listing."

Yami took in a breath and began to tell Yuugi everything. "The first monarchs of Alore were horrible people. I can't even begin to explain how bad they were. In fact, when they were ruling is when the prophecy was foretold. When their line ended my great, great, great grandfather took the throne and divided the people among the court to rule over the land that they were given. And the high king ruled above them all. For doing this he became known as a ruler of a new dynasty and a kind hearted ruler. From then on everyone in my family tried to follow in his footsteps. Well, everyone except for me of course."

"What do you mean?"

"My mother died in childbirth leaving my father to take care of me. He tried his very best because I was all he had left of her, even if that meant spoiling me. I always got my way and threw a fit when I didn't. I was conceited and arrogant. I always looked down upon others, though my grandfather tried his best to change that about me. And looking back I feel very foolish for the way I acted. I didn't tell you or Ryou because I wanted a fresh start with new people who had no idea who I really was or acted like. It's just I naturally thought I was better than they were because I had more power than they ever would have. And that's not what my family is about. They are all about being modest, kind, and generous."

"And that's why you were turned into a frog?"

"Yes, on my way back home after visiting Otogi the carriage was stopped by a fairy godmother by the name of Serenity. As her name suggests she is very peaceful and kindhearted and she doesn't take kindly to people acting the way I had been. She told me that I needed take a good hard look at myself and the only way to do that was to turn me into something that was as ugly as I was on the inside."

"Did she tell you how'd you get turned back into a human?"

"Yes, yes she did. She told me that I'd become human when I was kissed by...." He stopped there, debating on whether or not to finish the sentence.

"Kissed by whom?" Yuugi asked softly.

He changed his gaze from Yuugi to stone floor. "Kissed by my soul mate."

Yuugi's breath caught in his throat. _'I…I was the one that turned him back. Does that mean...I guess it's now or never. I knew I would have to tell him sometime.'_ Taking in a deep breath he looked at Yami. "Yami, I...I..." He began before a finger was pressed to his lips.

"I know, you told me that you didn't know anything or see anything that night. I believe you."

"What?" He whispered. Yami believed him? He bit his lower lip trying to think. What would he say when he did tell him now that he believed him? Maybe he was better off just keeping his mouth shut.

Yami glanced out the window to see the moon rising in the sky. "It's getting late." He muttered as he turned away from the window to face Yuugi.

All fell silent once more as they looked at one another. Their eyes met and they began to lean in. As they got closer Yami's heartbeat quickened in excitement. He closed his eyes and waited for contact, but it never came. Instead he felt added weight leaning against him.

Confused he opened his eyes and looked down only to see Yuugi peacefully sleeping against him. A small smile graced his lips as he watched him sleep for a few moments.

As carefully as he could he gently placed Yuugi's head against the pillows and brought a blanket up around him. He yawned as he rubbed his eyes. He knew he should go back to the room Otogi was letting him use.

But he didn't. In fact he did quite the opposite and fell asleep right next to Yuugi.

**AN: I had written Marik's popcorn line before I realized that they didn't have any popcorn in this world. My friend gave me the suggestion for Ryou's line right after that. Also, even though I'm starting college this week I'll try and do weekly updates. **

**Until next time  
**


	11. Chapter XI

**Even In Fairytales:**

**XI:**

While the entire palace was in a deep slumber a figure made its way down the dark hallways until it reached a door. Slowly it pushed open the door and let itself into the prince's chambers. As quietly as he could he snuck across the floor until he reached a crystal end table. On top of the crystal table were the cufflinks.

Luckily the figure was just tall enough to reach one, take it, and creep back down the hallway before morning came.

-----

The sun climbed high in the sky the rays spreading over the town waking everything and everyone up to start the day. It squeezed through every opening that it could find, even the ones in the palace. It snuck across the blankets before shinning its rays over Yuugi's pale face silently telling him to wake up. Groaning, he lifted his arm up to shield his eyes from the sudden intrusion of light.

However the sun claimed another victim. Slowly the pair of eyes from the second figure on the bed opened and glanced around the room. As Yami went to sit up he found that his right arm was pinned under Yuugi's body. Glancing over he saw the sun had casted an ethereal glow around the sleeping one, making his presence seem to come from that of another world.

Slowly he reached up and gently caressed Yuugi's cheek with the back of his free hand. Yuugi's skin was so soft to his touch. He smiled to himself as he drew the hand away. The boy looked so peaceful sleeping and he didn't have the heart to wake him up. _'What would I give to wake up like this every morning?'_ He told himself that he would be lying if he didn't admit that he wasn't attracted to the sleeping figure next to him. _'But why? It makes no sense. I am supposed to end up with the one that breaks the spell, but since no one broke it does that mean I'm free to be with whomever I choose?'_

Yami frowned when he felt the bed shifting. He didn't want Yuugi to wake up, not yet. He wanted to stay like this longer, feel what he was now feeling longer. But he knew that sooner or later reality was bound to set in.

Yawning, Yuugi rubbed his eyes with his hand. "What day is it? What time is it?" He muttered softly to himself.

Wanting to sleep another few minutes Yuugi rolled onto his side only to come into contact with something else. _'Wait a minute.'_ He thought as he opened his eyes only to see a pair staring back at him. "AH!" He cried as he moved back as far as he could.

"Good morning." Yami greeted him casually as he sat up.

"W-what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in your own room?" As soon as those words left his mouth Yuugi immediately felt bad. He didn't mean to come off like he didn't want Yami to be there next to him when he woke up. It was just surprising a surprise that he didn't mind.

Yami said nothing as he watched Yuugi get over his sudden shock before explaining the situation to him. "Well, last night after our conversation you fell asleep and I must've fallen asleep soon after." A part of him wanted Yuugi to mention what almost happened last night, and yet, another part of him didn't. And if Yuugi remembered it left a question; where did they now stand with each other? He glanced out the window and noted how high the sun was in the sky. "I think we should get up."

"I suppose." Yuugi quietly answered, unsure of what else to say. An awkward silence filled the air as their gazes focused on everything else in the room rather than each other. A few minutes passes and finally, Yuugi decided to say something else. "I think part of getting up means getting up from the bed."

"OH! Sorry." He apologized as he got off the bed, now making it possible for Yuugi to get up.

"Thank you." He said as he got off the bed, jumping a little when his bare feet hit the cool stone that the floor was made of.

The prince was about to say something else when a sharp knocking came from the door. They both looked at each other before Yuugi went to go open the door. On the other side was Ryou, who looked very troubled about something. "Ryou, what's wrong?"

"Oh! You are awake, I was afraid that you would still be sleeping..." His voice trailed off when he noticed Yami standing by the bed. "Did I come at a bad time?"

"What? No!" He assured the white haired teenager in front of him. "What's going on?"

Ryou looked back and forth between the two for a moment before continuing. "I came to tell you is I just heard from a servant that there is something going on in the throne room. It has something to do with Prince Otogi, Honda, and a small dwarf."

"A small dwarf?" The other two echoed as they looked at each other before looking back at Ryou. What would a dwarf want with Otogi and Honda?

Ryou shrugged. "I guess but I don't know the whole story. This is only what I've heard from the servant."

This got Yuugi's curiosity going. "Well, there's only one way to find out. Let's go to the throne room and see what's going on ourselves."

The two of them slipped their shoes on before following Ryou out into the hall. The three of them walked together for a while. It wasn't before too long before Ryou grasped Yuugi by the arm and pulled him forward a bit. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Yuugi was a little taken aback by his friend's sudden actions. "Uh, sure you can. What's on your mind?"

For a moment Ryou stood there, debating on whether or not to ask what it is he wanted to ask. _'Well, I guess there's no point in beating around the bush.'_ He took in a deep breath. "Yuugi, I suppose there's no other way to ask this, but, do you like the high prince?"

Yuugi blinked and blinked again. "What do you mean 'like'? Do you mean as a person, a friend, or what?" There were several possibilities and his friend could've been asking about any.

"Well," He began as he brushed a strand of hair out of his face. "Either as a friend or..." He stopped there not wanting to go further.

"Or what?"

Here was his chance to ask and he couldn't do it. "AH! I'm sorry; forget that I even brought it up." Ryou said as he waved his hands dismissively. Ryou was half relived that he had stopped right there, but a deeper part of him wished that he would've finished the thought.

"Alright." Yuugi said as he looked from his friend to the ground. What had Ryou been trying to say before he backed out of saying it? _'What was he going to say? Do I like Yami as a friend or as what?' _He wanted to ask Ryou to finish his thought, but didn't want to put him in an uncomfortable position. _'I wonder what he was going to say.' _Yuugi stopped walking to ponder this for a moment. _'Wait, of course it was going to lead to asking if I like him as more than a friend. Now I see why he didn't want to finish. He didn't want to pry.'_

"Yuugi? Are you coming?" Ryou's distant voice asked.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you were coming. You look a little distracted? Are you alright?" His face held an expression of genuine concern.

"I'm fine. Ryou, if you don't mind I'd like to be alone for a few minutes."

"Alright. We'll wait for you at the bottom of the stairs."

Yuugi nodded in agreement before turning around and passed Yami without another word. "Yuugi?" He asked softly, but it went unheard.

"He wants to be alone for a minute. I told him that we'd wait for him at the bottom of the stairs." Ryou explained to Yami, masking the part of him that felt bad. _'He probably figured out what I was going to ask.' _

Yami was slightly confused, but tired his best to shrug it off and followed Ryou down the stairs to wait for Yuugi at the bottom of the stairs.

-----

Yuugi walked down the hall until he reached the window. He looked out and down at the city below. A breeze blew by and his golden bangs swayed as he leaned against the sill. He closed his eyes as his thoughts drifted back to last night. He hadn't gotten a chance to finish up what he was thinking about before Yami had come into the room. Fortunately Ryou's question got him back to thinking about it otherwise he probably wouldn't have gotten back around to thinking it.

_'Do I like him as a friend or something more? It is a good question. I don't even know. All I know is that I've never felt like this before about anyone.' _He opened his eyes once more and looked down at the streets. He knew that both Ryou and Yami were his friends but he felt differently about the two of them.

Another thing that confused him is that he didn't know how things worked in this world. In his world same gender relationships were looked down upon, but here it seemed to be different. Honda and Otogi were a good example because they were openly together and yet they were both men. Did the people here not care as long as you were truly in love with another person?

_'He told me himself that he was supposed turn back after he had been kissed by his soul mate. And I was the person that kissed him in turn making him human again. So I guess that they are alright with same gender relationships. But does this mean that Yami and I are supposed to end up together. I mean, I know he's attracted to me since we almost kissed last night. OH! This is so confusing.'_

Knowing he wouldn't come to an answer today he stared out the window a moment longer before turning away. "I should head back down stairs. They're probably wondering what's taking me so long."

-----

Ryou and Yami were waiting at the bottom of the stairs like they had promised; both of them too busy thinking to strike up a conversation. Finally they heard the sound of descending footfalls on the stone staircase. Looking up they saw Yuugi coming down the stairs. "Hey, sorry about that I needed a chance to gather my thoughts."

"It's alright Yuugi." Yami smiled at him and it made Yuugi's heart flutter. "I hope you got everything figured out."

"Now, maybe we can help out down here." Ryou said as they walked through a stone arch way.

Standing outside the door to the throne room was Honda. When they neared he looked up at them and smiled. "Oh good, you're up. And thank the gods for that."

"We heard something was up. So what's going on?" Yami asked.

"What's going on where?" A new voice asked. They all looked behind them and saw Marik enter the room.

Yami rolled his eyes. "Nice of you to join us."

Marik narrowed his eyes at him and shrugged. "Hey, I need a good night's sleep too. So fill me in, what's going on?"

"I was just about to get to that." Honda said before clearing his throat. "Last night someone broke into the palace and stole one of the cufflinks."

They all looked at each other, not really seeing the dilemma. "And that's bad how?" Marik asked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You two are together now, are you not?"

"You don't understand. Otogi's father only agreed to hold the ball because Otogi didn't want to marry the miller's daughter, who they claim can spin straw into gold. They both agreed that if Otogi could find someone else at this ball then he may marry them instead." He paused for a moment and looked at the ground. "Then he met me at the ball. I guess you could call it love at first sight. I left and dropped the cufflink and he told his father who ever had the other was 'the one.' His father said the one who possessed the other he could marry. The king left early yesterday for a meeting, but said when he got he wanted to see the proof. But I no longer have it since that dwarf took it."

"And the dwarf won't give it back unless you guess his name?" Ryou finished for him.

Honda nodded. "Yes. I don't mean to sound like I'm begging, but could you possibly help Otogi think of some names. He's running out of names to guess since the dwarf keeps denying the names he thinks up."

Yuugi gave him a reassuring smile. "Of course, we'd be happy to help."

The young man before them turned to a servant and nodded. The servant opened the door to the throne room and let them inside. Otogi was pacing back and forth in front of the throne calling out random names. "Hank?"

"No." Came a reply a moment later. Sitting on the throne was a rather bored looking dwarf. His elbow was propped up against the arm rest of the throne and his dulled eyes watched the man before him try and guess his name. Once in a while he moved a strand of his disheveled hair out of the way.

Ryou titled his head to the side as he study the figure on the throne. This unkempt appearance looked all too familiar. However he couldn't place his figure on where he had seen him before.

"Dexter?"

The dwarf's nose scrunched up at the name. "No."

"Jeffery."

"No."

"Oh, can I make a guess?" Marik asked, seeing that the prince was getting nowhere with his guesses.

The green-eyed prince looked at him and shrugged. "Sure."

Marik grinned widely. "You're name has got to be BOB!" He yelled. Silence befell the throne room as everyone just stared at him. "I'll take that as a no."

Yuugi looked at Otogi before looking at the dwarf. "I have a guess as well. Your name has got to be none other than Rumpelstiltskin."

The dwarf's chocolate brown eyes narrowed as he glared at Yuugi. "You dare speak my great, great grandfather's name?" Nobody dared speak that name for almost a century and so it was almost forgotten.

Yuugi blinked when he denied his guess. "That's not your name?" He then mentally smacked himself for making such a stupid guess. Of course it wasn't his name. It was the generic name for the fairytale.

"No, nice try through." He had to give the kid points for it though; it was the closest anyone had ever gotten to guessing his actual name before.

_'This is bugging me.'_ Ryou thought to himself. _'I know I've seen him before I just don't know where.'_ He closed his eyes and tried his best to think as far back as he could.

-----

_An eight-year-old Ryou walked through the woods clutching his basket close to him. He hadn't wanted to go through the woods alone to his grandmother's house, but his mother had told him that he needed to make this journey on his own. He dropped the basket and let out a startled cry when the bushes started moving. _

_"Geeze girly, don't get your panties in a bunch." The bushes responded as a person smaller than himself pushed through into the clearing._

_Ryou stared down at him, he looked really mean. "I'm a boy." He said quietly._

_"Could've fooled of me." The dwarf retorted. A growl was heard from the bushes causing the boy to trip, fall over and then squish him. "Get off!" _

_"S…sorry." He stammered as he pushed himself up. _

_"Geeze you're really jumpy kid." _

_"I'm sorry." He apologized. "It's my first time going in the woods alone and I'm very scared that something might happen to me while I'm here." _

_The small creature blinked and blinked again. "Oh." He said simply. "I guess I could walk with you to your destination if you want."_

_Ryou's eyes widened. "Really?" He asked as he titled his head to the side. "Oh thank you." The young boy squealed enthusiastically as he hugged the dwarf. He growled and the Ryou dropped him. "Sorry."_

"_Its fine I suppose. I think we better get going wherever you were going to go." He said, though he wasn't really sure why he wanted to be this kid's escort to wherever it was that he was going. He just wanted to. "I'm Bakura, by the way." _

_The eight-year-old blinked a couple of times before it processed the introduction. "Oh, it's nice to meet you. I'm Ryou."_

_-----  
_

Ryou stepped forward and looked at Otogi who just nodded. "I know your name." He spoke up as everyone looked at him. "It's Bakura."

The dwarf's eyes widened as he tried to figure out how he had figured out his name. "WHAT! Who told you? I'll bet my soul the devil told you." They weren't supposed to have guessed his name. The prince was supposed to run out of names to guess and then he would've won this 'little game'.

Ryou shook his head. He wasn't surprised that he didn't remember either since it only been a onetime meeting. "No, you told me your name a long time ago."

Bakura narrowed his eyes, not sure whether or not to believe this kid. "I did?"

"Yep."

Bakura stared at Ryou a moment longer and remembered that day a long time ago in the woods. "Ryou?" He questioned.

Ryou was about to say something else when Otogi stepped forward. "I hate to break up this reunion, but I believe you owe us one pair of silver cufflinks."

"Fine! Here you are." He said as he tossed the cufflink at the prince. He could care less about the miller's dull daughter now anyways.

Otogi placed a hand on Ryou's shoulder and smiled. "Thank you."

Ryou smiled back. "You're quite welcome."

"My lord." A servant said as he came in. "I beg you forgive me for this intrusion. But breakfast is ready."

"Alright thank you." He turned and looked at everyone. "Follow my servant here. He will lead you to the dining room."

"Right this way then." The servant said as he led them out of the throne room and down the hall.

However Otogi grasped Yami by the shoulder. "Yami, wait. I want to talk to you."

"What is it?"

"Your grandfather contacted me not that long ago. He asked me if I knew where you were. I still haven't answered; do you want me to say anything to him on your behalf?"

"Just tell him I'm well, alright? I'll deal with everything else when the time comes."

"Alright."

-----

The dining room possessed a long, rectangular table that had all sorts of delicious food. Yuugi and Marik were already seated and eating when Otogi and Yami joined them. Yami took a seat and next to Yuugi and noticed someone was missing. "Yuugi, where's Ryou?"

"Huh?" He asked as he looked up from his plate of food. "Oh, he's skipping breakfast."

"Really? Why?"

"You're joking right?" Marik asked as he took a bite of food. "Why do think he's skipping breakfast?"

"Oh." Came his reply.

The dark haired prince to a sip of water before clearing his throat and everyone looked at him. "So, where are you all headed?" He asked, looking at the three.

No one said anything as they looked at each other. "What's north of here?" Yuugi asked.

Otogi's blinked several times. "North? No one ever travels that way. In fact I wouldn't recommend it."

"Why not?"

"It just leads to nothing but trouble. For one there are people north of here that can never leave that area. They take delight on preying on unsuspecting travelers. And for another thing there's a maze."

"A maze? What's so bad about a maze?" Marik asked.

Otogi shook his head. "You don't understand this maze changes people that have doubts about who they are as a person. Or people that have evil inside their hearts."

Yuugi sighed as he took a bite of food as he glanced at the other two. "Well, that's the way we should go."

"If that's the way you say we should go then we'll go that way." Yami said. He was uncomfortable about the whole idea, especially the maze, but if that was the way then it was the way.

Otogi blinked a couple of times. "Did you not hear what I just told you about the maze? It's dangerous."

"I know, I heard you. However, it's just the way we should go." Yuugi explained to Otogi, not wanting to get into the whole explanation of _why _they were going to head that way.

Otogi was about to protest, but then thought better of it. "When are you going to leave?" He asked instead.

"When everyone is ready." Was the reply he received.


	12. Chapter XII

**Even In Fairytales:**

**Chapter XII:**

While the others were at breakfast Ryou and Bakura were in the courtyard, sitting on the edge of a fountain. The trickling sound of water served as the only noise. "Bakura, may I ask you something?" Ryou said after a few minutes of silence.

"Ask away kiddo."

"Well, I was wondering if you could tell me why exactly you took the cufflinks."

"Oh, well, it's kind of hard to explain. The best way to explain it is that it's what I had to do for my fairytale, though at the moment I really don't care about the miller's daughter."

Sighing Ryou shook his head. He knew all too well what it was like to do things and the only answer you could give was for your fairytale dictated you to do it.

------

As soon as breakfast had finished everyone had gone off to do different things; Otogi went to his study, Marik had gone off to wander around the palace aimlessly while Yuugi had slipped away without so much as a word and Yami went to go find him to see if he was all right. Fortunately for Yuugi he had lost Yami; however he currently found himself in a garden without any knowledge of how he got there or how to get back to the main hall of the palace. So until someone came he just resorted to walking around the garden, which, to be fair, was very beautiful.

The green hedges were trimmed back perfectly, no stray branch hung over the stone path. Outlining the perimeter of the hedges were exotic flowers, some of which he never seen or even heard about, in colors such as vibrant blues, purples, yellows, and reds. Stopping, Yuugi plucked a red hibiscus from its bush and inhaled the scent before continuing on his walk. On the other side of the flora border there was an opening with marble steps that lead up to a weeping willow. Curiously, Yuugi made his way towards the drooping tree. He went to move the veil of branches when he heard someone call his name. Looking back out over the garden he saw Yami making his was towards him. _'Well, I guess there's no denying that he would've found me sooner or later.' _He thought as he retracted his hand from the tree.

"There you are." Yami called as he made his way up the steps.

"Oh, hey." He greeted softly. "Looks you found me."

"There were only so many places you could be." Yami just shook his head. "However, I want to talk to you."

"About what?" Yuugi asked, twirling the hibiscus in his fingers.

"I just want to know why you've been avoiding me. Every time I saw you in the halls you disappeared down another corridor. Did I do something wrong?"

Sighing, Yuugi turned back to him. "It's complicated."

"We've got time." Yami told him softly.

A slight breeze blew by and Yuugi shivered, wrapping his arms around himself to keep warm. Yami wrapped and arm around waist, drawing him close. "The weather's unpredictable today." Yuugi commented to no one in particular.

"Yuugi?"

"Yes?" He asked, looking up only to be met with a pair of soft lips pressing against his own. His violet eyes widened before sliding closed. The red hibiscus fell out of his grasp and to the ground unnoticed as he wrapped his arms around Yami.

A few moments later they parted and looked at each other with half-lidded eyes. "Um, excuse me." A voice interrupted. Reluctantly they drew away from another and turned to the voice.

"What is it?" Yami asked the young man standing before them.

"Forgive me, I am truly sorry if I have interrupted something, but I've come to tell the two of you that his highness is requesting your presence in the courtyard."

Yami gave him a nod. "All right, tell Otogi we will join him in a few minutes."

Bowing at the waist the servant said, "Yes sire, right away." He then rushed off down the steps and back through the garden.

As soon as he was gone Yami turned back to Yuugi. "I guess we should go then." Yuugi said after a moment, before turning away and descending the steps and followed the servant out of the garden.

Yami stood there for a moment, a small breeze blowing by before following Yuugi through the garden and to the courtyard.

------

Eventually the two found their way through the winding palace halls and ended up in the courtyard. "It's about time you two showed up." Marik said, his tone bored, as he pretended to examine his nails. When he opened his mouth to speak once more he was shushed up by a nudge from Ryou.

Otogi shook his head and looked at the two that had just joined them. "Anyways, before your group started to make your way north I wanted to tell you something." He began. "I've had my staff replenish your supplies and I will have a carriage take you to a certain point so you don't have to spend half the day walking."

"Otogi, you don-" Yami began to protest, but Otogi held up his hand and cut him off.

"I don't want to hear it. Besides, the quicker you get there the quicker you can return and sort everything out." He told him, directing his statement more towards Yami than anyone else.

"Your highness." The footman called as he entered the courtyard through the glass French doors that lead into the palaces' sun room. "The carriage has been pulled around to the front steps and the bags are being loaded now. Whenever they're we'll leave."

"Ah, thank you Etienne." He said to the footman before turning back to the group in question. "Well, it looks like this is good bye."

Everyone murmured in agreement as they started to make their way to the front steps of the palace.

"However, I'd like to have a word with you." Otogi said as he grasped the other prince by the shoulder, stopping him. Noticing this, the rest of the group stopped and looked at the other two with a concern."Don't worry, it's only a quick word and won't take very long. Please do continue on."

"All right then…" Ryou said slowly before they made their way through the threshold of the French doors.

As soon as the others had disappeared he turned to Otogi. "All right, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, it's more like tell you something than talk."

"What is it?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I sent word to your grandfather letting him know that you are well."

"Thank you, Otogi."

"You're welcome, but I know of a better way to set your grandfather's mind at ease rather than a letter."

"I know what you're getting at and no, I'm not going home. Not yet at least."

The green eyed man stared at him for a moment longer. "Alright, I trust you on this."

"Thank you Otogi. Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome. Have a safe journey."

"Good bye my friend." Yami said as he walked through the French doors into the sun room.

Yami swiftly walked through the halls and in no time found himself outside the front steps of the palace. He made his way towards the carriage and saw he that he got there at just the right time for the footman was helping Yuugi up before he, himself got in the carriage as well.

On one side sat Marik, Bakura, and Ryou; leaving Yami to sit next to Yuugi. As soon as he sat down the footman shut the door and singled to the driver that everyone was in and ready to go. There was a sudden lurch of the carriage before they started rolling smoothly along.

Yuugi glanced around at everyone, an amused smile formed on his lips. _'So we've got Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf, Rumpelstiltskin, and the Frog Prince all riding in a carriage together. Now that's something I'd never thought I'd see.' _

For the most part it was silent, but every once in a while someone spoke a word or two. Before they knew it the carriage came to a halt. "What's going on?" Ryou asked as he looked out the window. No one said anything and right when Ryou pulled his back inside the door opened.

"I'm sorry." The footman said. "But this is as far as we're going to go."

As soon as everyone climbed out of the climbed out of the carriage they found themselves on a dirt path the middle of nowhere. Right as Ryou turned around to thank them for bringing them this far it was already going back the way it came.

"Well, I guess we're on our own from here." Marik said, turning into a wolf.

The unlikely group each picked up a bag that contained some supplies and started to make their way down the path. Their walk was going to be nothing but a long, warm, and possibly sweaty one. "Summer's drawing closer with each passing day." Ryou said as he blocked the sun from view. "It's almost too warm to keep moving on."

Marik glared at Ryou. "Yeah, well, you try walking in it with 90 pounds a fur on your back. Then you can complain."

"I don't think you have the right to complain either." Bakura told him. "You didn't even have to become a wolf in the first place."

"Yeah, well, it gets me places faster."

Yami raised an eyebrow. "You're going the same pace as us. And I have a question for you; can you even turn into anything else _other _than a wolf?"

Marik looked at him questionably. "Of course I can."

"Are you sure? I've never seen it."

"Fine," Marik growled. "The next non-wolf animal that we see I'll turn into and show you that I can turn into something else other than a wolf."

"Well that should prove to be interesting."

While the three of them began to bicker Ryou and Yuugi just ignored them. Their pace quickened in hopes that they would find some place to cool off at such as trees or an oasis of some sort. They walked until they came to the edge of a cliff. As they looked down they saw a crystal clear lake shimmering in the sunlight. "Well, we found a place to cool off at, but how do you suppose we get down from here?" Ryou asked as they both looked around.

"There! I see a path." Yuugi said a few minutes later. Sure enough there was another dirt path winding down the hill.

Looking behind them they saw the other three still talking and didn't seem to notice what they found. Sighing Ryou turned to Yuugi. "Do you want to race to the lake?"

Yuugi smiled and nodded. "Sure why not. See you at the bottom." And with that, Yuugi took off running.

Ryou stood there for a moment before fully comprehending what just happened. "HEY! That's wasn't fair!" He yelled as he chased after Yuugi.

It was then that they pulled out of their conversation. "Did…did they just leave us here?" Yami asked as they watched the two disappear down the path.

"Where do they think they're going in the first place?" Bakura asked as the two figures disappeared down the hill.

"Oohh, a race! Fun!" Marik said as he ran down the path after the other two.

"HEY! Get back here!" Bakura and Yami yelled simultaneously as they chased after the wolf.

Reaching the end of the path Yuugi skidded to a stop right by the lake. A few moments later Ryou joined him. The two of them were out of breath, sweaty, and even warmer than before. As they caught their breath Marik soon joined them. "Where are the other two?" Ryou asked as Marik laid down next to them.

"They're coming."

Both boys looked up in time to see both Yami coming towards them. "Where's Bakura?" Ryou asked, looking around.

"Right…behind…me." He panted as he sat on the ground next to them. Sure enough just passed him was the dwarf, sitting there, breathing just as heavily as the prince was.

"Are you two all right?" Yuugi asked.

"Oh we're fine, but a little bit of WARNING next time might be nice." Bakura said from where he lay on the ground.

"How can you two be tired, it wasn't that long of a run?" Marik teased.

"Shut it wolf boy!" They both snapped at him, neither one of them was in the mood to hear what he had to say about it.

"If it makes you feel any better there's a lake right over there." Yuugi informed the two of them.

Both of them sat up and looked at each other before looking at Yuugi. "Really?"

"Yup, it's the reason we had a little race down here." He explained as he pointed at it. The two scrambled up to their feet, taking off their shoes as they neared the lake.

"Hey, wait, you two don't even know what's in that lake. It could be dangerous." Yuugi called to them. Without so much as heeding his call the two just climbed into the water, sighing in satisfaction of how cool the water was.

"Come on in you three, the waters nice and relaxing in the hot sun." Bakura called after a few moments.

Both Yuugi and Ryou skeptically looked at each other, unsure of what to do. However, Marik was all for it and jumped right in with them. "Oh come on you two. There's nothing wrong with the water."

"I don't know…" Ryou trailed off as they both stared at the lake.

Without any warning Marik came up and grasped Yuugi's shirt in his teeth and pulled on it, causing him to fall into the lake. "AH!" He failed his arms as he fell into the cool pool of water.

A few moments later he surfaced and coughed up a bunch of water. "Are you all right?" Ryou asked as he knelt down next to the lake.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" It was Yami that asked this time before he glared at Marik.

"What did I do?" He asked, changing back into a human once more.

"You're the one that pulled him in here."

"Yami! Let it go! I'm all right. Really, I am." Yuugi cut in.

"If you say so." He said as he watched Yuugi swim back over to the edge of the lake.

'_Oh, I can't do this anymore. I need to tell him. It's really unfair and he deserves to know that it was me.' _Yuugi thought as he pulled himself back onto the bank and sat next to Ryou, who had his feet dangling in the cool liquid. Looking up, Yuugi saw the three of them starting some sort of water war. _'Tonight, that's when I'll tell him.'_

Not really wanting to get caught in the heat of the day the group agreed to spend the day at the lake. When the sun began to set was when they would talk about whether or not they would continue on that evening or if they would wait until the next morning before moving on.

------

Pegasus examined the clear jar in front of him, noticing that it was only half way full. "This is all you have to show for your work?" He asked the three on bended knee in front of him.

"Yes my lord." They all answered in unison.

"And you've failed to get any other magic from another tale before showing this to me."

"Yes my lord."

The white haired man let out a sigh as he turned away from them. The fairytale draining wasn't going exactly as he had expected it to. That's when a thought struck him. "Valon," He began turning back to them.

Said brunette raised his head. "Yes, my lord. What is it?"

"I believe a week or so ago you mentioned that you believe that you saw the chosen one. Am I correct?"

"Yes." Confused the three of them looked at each other before looking back up at their lord.

He smiled wickedly as an idea formed in his head. "That's good, very good. When did you last see the chosen one?"

"Just recently." Raphael answered. "Why?"

"Because I want you capture and bring him to me."

**AN: Finally! An update! This chapter took forever considering that I had to cut a few characters from the story. And that affected the next chapter as well. But no worries since I know exactly what's going to happen next chapter. Also, the lake is a depression so it would have a bank and no shore...or so I think.  
**

**Anyways, until next time.  
**


	13. Chapter XIII

**Even In Fairytales:**

**Chapter XIII:**

King Solomon sat in his study looking over a few scrolls with ideas new laws that the lower kings wished to put into action in their land. Whenever the lower kings would want a new law to be put into action they sent it to him for approval. As he read over the scrolls after a while the calligraphy started to blur. _'I'm getting to old for this.' _He thought as he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index fingers. He looked up when there was a knock on the door. "Come in." He called as he rolled up the parchment he had been reading and pushed the documents aside.

The door opened slowly and in walked Mahado. "I'm sorry to disturb you, your highness; however there is a messenger here to see you."

"He may enter." Solomon said after a moment.

Mahado stepped aside letting the young messenger into the study. The young approached the elder king until he was a few feet away when he kneeled. "I've come on the part of Prince Otogi; he has a letter he wishes me to give to you." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Here you are, sire."

Solomon took the piece of parchment out of the messengers hand and unfolded it before reading it. Silence hung in the air as his eyes scanned over the piece of paper. After a few moments he looked up and turned back to the messenger. "Thank you for delivering this to me. Do you mind waiting outside while I compose a letter back to Otogi?"

The messenger shook his head and stood up. "Not at all, your majesty." With that the messenger took his leave and went to wait just outside the study.

As soon as the door had been shut by the messenger Mahado looked back over at his ruler. "It's about Yami. Otogi sends word that he's okay and he had just seen him recently."

"Does it say when the prince is to return home?" Mahado asked. The elderly king just shook his head. "I suppose he'll come home when he's ready then."

Solomon just nodded in agreement as he grabbed the quill from the ink bottle that it rest in along with a fresh sheet of parchment.

------

The three of them stared at Lord Pegasus, the shock was clearly written on their faces. Separating the group from on another once they got to the maze was no problem. Causing trouble among the group was no problem. Draining fairytales of their magic was again, no problem.

But it was a whole other thing entirely to kidnap someone. It was something they didn't wish to get their hands dirty with. It was something that they wished not to do, however there was nothing they good do even if they wanted to avoid it. "Yes, my lord." Was all they could say in response to their new job.

------

When the sun began to set the group reconvened and decided that it was best that they set up camp for the night and begin once more in the morning. Everyone had a job assigned to them before they went off to fulfill it. Ryou was to see how much food was to be rationed each night. Bakura was supposed to be setting up the sleeping arrangements and Marik was to dig a pit in case they needed a fire. Lastly, Yuugi and Yami were to gather fire wood for a fire to put in said pit if it got cold that night. _'This might be the only chance I get.' _ Yuugi thought as they walked along a path that wound around the lake to a small forest on the other side.

For the most part they were silent all the while they searched for the right amount of firewood. It wasn't until Yami looked over in Yuugi's direction was something said. "Are you alright? You look distracted." Without looking up at him Yuugi nodded. "Are you sure? Whatever it is you can tell me, you know that, right?"

"Can I?" Yuugi asked suddenly, looking up at Yami. "Can I really tell you? You won't get upset with me if I do?"

Yami gave Yuugi a weird look. "What are you talking about?" Yuugi chose to act like he hadn't said anything and went back to picking up some more wood for the fire. "Yuugi? What's going on? Please talk to me."

"You really want to know then?" Yami nodded. Something was going on with Yuugi and he knew it. It looked the teenager wanted to tell him something but was holding back for some reason.

"I really should have told you this earlier." Yuugi began quietly. "But I didn't tell you because I didn't know how you would react to it, but it's not fair to keep this from you."

Yuugi paused and Yami nodded. "Go on, what is it?"

"I know what really happened the night when you got turned back into a human.

"What do you mean whatreally happened?" Yami asked his voice calm as he tried to figure out what was going on. "I thought you said you didn't know anything."

"I-I lied. I do know what happened after you fell asleep; I kissed you."

Yami's eyes widened as he stared at Yuugi. "Wait…_you_ kissed me?"

Yuugi avoided his gaze as he looked at the ground. "Yes, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, really, I am. I was just scared of how you were going to react."

"You didn't tell me because you were scared about how I was going to react?"

"Yes, and it was unfair to keep it from you and I'm sorry."

There was silence between them for a long moment and Yuugi thought Yami was going to hate him or do something drastic but after a long pause he turned away from Yuugi and picked up a few more pieces of wood for the fire. He was unsure of how to react to the information that Yuugi had just provided him with. "Why don't you take the wood you've gathered so far and go back to camp?"

"But what about you?"

"I just want to be alone for a moment."

"All right and I am sorry that I didn't tell you sooner." Yami said nothing as Yuugi left him alone and went back to camp.

As soon as Yuugi was gone Yami sighed as he just set the sticks back down on the ground. Walking for a little while he found a long, mossy log that had once belonged to a tree. He walked along it for a little bit before sitting down on top of it.

As he sat there alone just enjoying the silence of the forest he went over the information Yuugi had just presented him with. When he got turned into a frog his fairy god mother, Serenity, had told him that he's get turned back by the kiss from just the right person he'd turn back into a human. Yuugi had just told him that he had kissed him and that had made him human again. _'It certainly explains a lot. It also means he's my soul mate.' _Yami thought to himself. And it certainly did.

He sat there a few moments longer before getting up and making his way to the camp.

------

Arriving back at camp he found Yuugi and Ryou sitting in front of a small hole in the ground that he guessed was the pit that Marik had built for the fire. Off to the side was a pile of the sticks and twigs Yuugi had brought back with him. Saying nothing to the other two he set the wood he collected right next to Yuugi's pile. He looked around before looking at the two that were talking quietly. "Where are Bakura and Marik?" He asked.

"They went off to catch fish for dinner." Ryou answered as Yami walked over and set next to Yuugi, who just kept his gaze on the ground.

Yami lifted an eye brow. "Why? We have food."

Sighing, Ryou just shook his head and shrugged. "I honestly have no idea." A moment later he stood up and looked at the other two. "I'll be right back."

When Ryou had gone it was silent for a while. Yuugi was trying his best to avoid Yami's gaze. "Yuugi," He said after a few minutes.

"Hmm?"

"I'm not mad at you, you know." He informed the smaller as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You're not? Why not? I mean I'm glad you're not mad at me, but I still am wondering exactly why not?" Biting his lower lip he looked away. "I mean I'd be pretty mad at someone if they kept something like that from me."

"It's all right. I know why you did it and even though it took a while you finally told me." He placed his hand under Yuugi's chin and turned his head until he was looking at him. He rested his forehead against Yuugi's, their noses almost touching. "That's why I forgive you."

"But what does it mean exactly? I mean I know what it means, but what does it mean for both our fairytales?"

"I guess it just means that our tales are more intertwined than we thought." He stated.

"Um, I'm back." Ryou said a few moments later.

They pulled away from each other as Ryou walked back over and sat next to them. It was uncomfortable for the next few moments but it went away after a while.

------

As he stood on the edge of the lake, Bakura studied the water. It was a clear day and though the sun made it shimmer in distance it looked empty. "Are you sure there's fish in here?" He asked.

Marik's nose twitched as he paced back and forth. "There better be fish in there." He answered as he peered into the water. "I don't know what kind of lake it will be if there's no fish in it.

Bakura smirked as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Well, it we do see a fish don't forget to turn into it."

"Shut up." Marik growled at Bakura.

"What I'm just stating what you promised."

"I _know _what I promised. I don't, however, see the need to go through with it when you're the only one here with me." He pointed out.

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Whatever, let's just find the stupid fish and ten head back to camp."

------

It wasn't more than half an hour later when they returned empty handed. "No fish I take it?" Ryou asked the two fishermen as they made their way back over to the camp.

Marik mumbled to himself as he sat down. "There were fish, but we just didn't have any luck catching them." He answered and a few moments later one of the bags landed right in front of him. He glared in the direction that the bag had come from. "What was that for?"

Yami placed the bag of food next to the rest of the bags. He stood up and walked over to the pile of wood that they had created. Picking up a few logs he carried them back over to the pit and placed them in the pit.

"How are we going to light the fire when it's time?" Yuugi asked, earning him a look from his four other companions. "What?"

Ryou blinked. "What do you mean?"

It was Yuugi's turn to blink. "What do you mean, what do I mean? I just asked you were going to start the fire."

"How do you think we're going to start it?" Bakura asked.

Sighing Yami picked up a few rocks and started to strike them together, creating a few sparks. With a few more strikes and before too long the fire was going.

"What are we going to about the blanket situation?" Yuugi asked once the fire was going.

"Is it even cold enough for a blanket? I mean we've got a fire going. Should that be enough?" Ryou asked.

"We'll see. It's not completely dark yet, but I doubt that it'll get any colder than it already is."

"So, no blankets?"

"I think it would be safe to say no. However, since we don't have any pillows I guess we could make the blankets into pillows." Ryou added.

"That's a good idea." Yami agreed with Ryou.

That night before bed they gathered up the blankets and folded them to create a sleeping spot. Since there were three blankets Ryou and Bakura each got their own pillow and Yuugi and Yami decided to share a blanket-pillow while Marik made a make-shift pillow from all the leafs he could find.

-------

The sky was painted with the colors of purples, yellows, organs, and blues. The water on the lake was nice and peaceful. Up in the sky a white bird drew closer and closer to the lake before touching down on the water.

The rays of the sun stretched out over the sleeping group trying its best to wake them. Marik was the first to rise and when he did he walked over to the lake and proceeded to get a drink of water. Raising his head he saw the white swan just floating in the water. He looked back at the group before looking back at the swan. _'Crap, I hope they don't wake up before I have a chance to scare this bird off.' _He thought to himself as he changed.

The white swan looked up from where he was sitting in the water and glanced at the wolf. He just stared at it for a few minutes wondering what it could possibly want.

Growling the wolf jumped into the water and yapped at the swan, trying to scare it off. Startled the swan ruffled its feathers and cawed trying its best to wake one of the members of the sleeping group.

"Stupid wolf…shut up….same to the bird…" Bakura muttered in his sleep as he tried his best to pull the blanket pillow over his head to block out the sound that they were making.

Although Bakura could care less about the bird, the noise did wake the other three up. "What's going on?" Yami asked sleepily as he looked around.

Ryou looked around as well, his eyes widened in horror at the sight he saw. From where he sat it looked like Marik was attempting to eat an innocent swan."Oh no." He gasped as he quickly stood up and ran in the direction of the lake.

Yuugi sat up and looked around. "What's going on?" He asked as he watched Ryou run towards the lake.

"I'm not too sure." Yami answered as they both got up and followed Ryou over to the lake and just left Bakura there sleeping.

Reaching the lake Ryou looked around for something that he could use to free the bird from Marik's grasp. Seeing nothing he turned back to the water. "Marik, leave that poor bird alone!" He yelled.

Startled Marik opened his mouth wide enough for the bird to slip out. The white swan flew from the wolf and landed on the bank of the lake and hid behind the spectators. "Thank you so much." He said to Ryou. "I thought for sure that wolf was going to eat me."

The three of them just stared at Marik as he swam his way back to the shore. He climbed out of the water, walked over to the camp, turned back into a human, snatched up a blanket and proceeded to dry himself off.

"Are you all right?" Ryou asked as he knelt down next to the swan.

Looking up at him the swan nodded. Its black eyes looked around and fell to the wolf-turned-human. "You're a shape shifter?" He asked.

Marik raised an eyebrow. "Yes I am, so what?"

Sighing, the swan shook his head. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Malik and I'm a shape shifter too."

**AN: If you're wondering where Ryou went, he went potty okay. XD Stuff will happen next chapter I promise. I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween. I have some news there will be no updates in November because I will be participating in NaNoWriMo. If you want more information see my profile. Have an awesome November and I'll see you all in December. **

**Treta Aysel **


	14. Chapter XIV

**Even In Fairytales:**

**Chapter XIV:**

Everyone stared at Malik for a long moment, surprised at what he just said. "You're a shape shifter as well?" Marik asked with a raised eyebrow, looking over the swan with some sort of interest in his eyes.

The swan nodded, looking around at all of them. "I most certainly am. Sorry to have come out and said it like that just now I couldn't help it. I've never met another shape shifter before and certainly not one of free will."

"As opposed to what?" Bakura asked.

"Forced shape shifting." Marik answered. "It's the opposite of what I do. I have free will to go between forms whereas he does not, am I right."

The bird nodded. "I change back into my human form at night, but only because of a curse." He looked around at the group and bowed his head. "Sorry to have brought this upon you, it's just that I don't get a chance to interact with many people."

Ryou smiled at him. "It's alright."

Yuugi looked at Ryou and nodded before turning to Malik with a smile. "Ryou is right, it's alright. Besides, you'll fit right in with the group."

Malik's eyes widened as he looked at the two of them. "Are you sure?" He asked, not wanting to over step any boundaries.

Yuugi and Ryou both nodded before the other three could say anything about it. "It's perfectly fine with us, right guys?" Ryou said before turning to the other three.

Yami, Bakura, and Marik all looked at each other for a long moment before turning back to the other three. "Yeah, it's fine with us." They said quietly.

Malik looked at everyone and then smiled. "Thank you so very much."

------

Valon, Alister, and Raphael all started at the maze for a long moment before all looking at each other. "So, we're here at the maze, how much longer until they all arrive?" Alister asked as he looked around the area.

Valon stood there for along moment thinking. "Well, we don't know when that group will reach here now do we. I say we set it up now and then wait for them to come since that could really be at any moment."

"Well, yeah, that does sound reasonable because you're right; we have no idea when they'll get here." Raphael agreed as he took out the jar of magic that he had brought with them. He twisted the lid and it came right off of the jar. The purple mass of energy just stayed there in the jar, waiting to be called upon to do the deed needed to be done by whoever possessed it.

"How do we get it to do what we want?"

"Watch." Raphael said. "_Mosca magico. Storca le barriere di tesi! Intrappoli i viaggiatori all'interno!"(1)_

The purple energy flew out of the container. It circled up in the air before resting on top of the hedges and completely disappeared. "Now we wait."

------

Yuugi stood in front of the green maze, something didn't feel right and he wasn't quite sure what it was. He shrugged it off as they all approached the maze and stood in front of the entrance to it. "It doesn't look like there is any way around it. We might have to go through it." Malik said as he landed on the ground and looked at them.

"Well, I suppose it shouldn't that hard to guide ourselves through it." Bakura said as he stared at the maze for a long time. "It can't be that big."

Yami took a step forward towards the entrance. "Then what are we all standing here for, let's go."

The group all nodded in agreement and started forwards towards the maze. As they stepped inside Yuugi got a sinking feeling inside his stomach, like something was wrong. He stopped walking and looked. "Yuugi, what's wrong?" Yami asked him, as he too stopped walking making sure everything was alright with the other one.

Yuugi looked up at Yami and sighed. "I'm not too sure. It's just that something doesn't feel quite right here." He said as he looked around. He sighed. "I'm sure it's nothing though."

Yami nodded, a little unsure, and then held out his hand for Yuugi to take. Yuugi stood there unsure of what to do, after a few moments he then reached out and grasped Yami's hand in his own. Hand-in-hand the two then followed the others into the maze.

------

As soon as everyone had entered the maze Alister looked at the other two from there vantage point from another spot in the maze. "Now what do we do?" Alister asked.

"We wait until they reach the middle of the maze." Valon told him as he looked at the other. "I thought we went over this already."

Alister shrugged as he looked back down at the group from their hiding spot in the trees. "So what if we did, I just wanted to make sure that it has it changed since then."

Raphael groaned and rolled his eyes. "Will you two stop it and shut up?" He hissed. "You're going to give us away."

Under their breaths the two muttered fine and turned back to the task at hand.

-------

The group moved throughout the maze winding through the turns and such. After a while Marik shot Bakura a glare. "I thought you said it wasn't going to take long to get out of here." He said lowly.

Bakura just glared back at him. "Well, how the heck was I supposed to know that it looks smaller that it really is?" He shot back.

"Will you two shut up please?" Yami asked the two of them.

"Make us." They both said, turning their glares to the prince instead of each other.

"You want me to make you; fine I'll make you both shut up then." Yami threatened the two of them.

Both Yuugi and Ryou let out a sigh causing Malik to look at them. "Are they always like this?" He asked.

Both nodded and groaned in response. "Unfortunately yes." Ryou answered as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. A worried look spread across Malik's face. "Don't worry you'll get used to it."

"I would hope so." He said as he followed everyone into the maze.

Yuugi was about to take another step forward when he heard something behind him. He blinked several times before looking over his shoulder. His eyes widened when he saw the passage they had just walked down through was blocked off by a hedge. "Um," He began. "We might have a problem."

Everyone stopped walking and turned to look at him. "What's wrong?" Ryou asked blinking several times.

Yuugi looked back and pointed back at the way they had just walked through before turning back to look at the others. "The path we just walked down, it's blocked."

"How is that possible, we just came from that way." Bakura asked.

"I…I don't know, it just is."

Marik frowned as he neared the hedge trying to get past it. "Unless someone purposely blocked it so we couldn't go back that way.

Before anything else could be said the same rumbling sound, sounded and the path foreword was being blocked as well.

"It looks like they really don't want us to go anywhere."

As they were looking for another way out the corridor of the maze the ground began to shake violently. Malik flew up in the air while everyone else stumbled trying to get a good grip on something. Yuugi reached and tried to grasp the branches from a nearby bush. He had it in his grasp when he was yanked away by arms around him. An 'eep' sound escaped his lips as he was cradled closely to someone.

Ryou looked as a crack appeared in the ground before him. His eyes widened as he blinked several times as out from the crack seemed to arise a bush; leaving Yuugi and Yami on one side and the other four on the other.

Marik started in confusion for a long moment at the bush before the ground began shaking once more and split right from under him. As his forefeet and front feet started to split apart he jumped back making sure he was all on one side rather than just teetering on the hedge that had just come out of the ground.

-------

Yuugi kept his eyes squeezed shut as he and whoever had grabbed rolled on the ground for a few feet before coming to a complete stop. He opened his eyes and blinked several times before he looked up at who was cradling him closely. His cheeks were tinted a shade of red as he found that it was Yami who had grabbed him out of the way. Yami looked down at Yuugi and blinked. "Are you alright?" He asked the younger one.

Yuugi nodded as they sat up. "I'm fine," He paused as he looked around. "What happened?"

"It looks like we all have been separated." The prince said as he stood up and looked at the hedge wall that now cut them off from the others.

Sighing Yuugi looked down. "Why would anyone want to separate us though?"

Yami frowned and shrugged. "I don't really know." He said as he looked around. "But we shouldn't really dwell on it; we should just keep moving forward on out of here."

Saying nothing, Yuugi just followed Yami through the open hedge. He really hoped Yami knew where they were going and just hoped that they didn't get lost.

------

Ryou stood up and looked around he wasn't entirely too sure what happened but it did look like they had all gotten separated. He had seen which way Marik, Yami, and Yuugi went but he wasn't too sure about anyone else. "Is anyone here with me?" He called as he looked around the surroundings in which he was trapped in.

"Stop yelling." A voice answered, not but a few seconds later. "I heard you just fine."

Ryou blinked several times and looked down to the left a little. Seeing Bakura there he looked at the dwarf and smiled. "Are you alright?" He asked, bending down next to him.

Bakura nodded as he sat up. "I'm fine." He brushed himself off before looking at Ryou. "How are you?"

Ryou gave him a soft smile. "I'm fine, thank you for asking." He then looked around for a bit. "I wonder what happened to everyone else."

Bakura stood up and brushed the dirt off of him. He looked around and studied their new surroundings. The hedges were higher than they had been before. "You know kid, I would say everyone else is on their own or like us and we've all been split into pairs for some weird reason."

Ryou sighed and turned the corner of one of the hedges. "Well, I hope everyone's alright." He paused for a minute. "If we keep walking we might run into someone."

Bakura nodded in agreement. "Alright then, let's keep going."

-------

Marik lifted an eyebrow as he looked at their new surroundings. "Well, that was certainly odd." He muttered taking a few steps forward being careful of his new surroundings. "What would they possibly gain from separating all of us?"

"Weaker apart then together?" Malik suggested, fluffing his wings.

Marik grunted in response. "I know, but why do they want us to be separated. We didn't do anything to bother them other than just go where ever Yuugi takes us."

Malik was silent for a moment as he started at the top of the hedges. "Maybe if I fly up I can see if I can see the others. After that we can take it from there."

Marik nodded. "Alright then, give it a try."

Malik flapped his wings for a moment before taking off from the ground. He stared flying up in the air and looked around. As he made his way close to the tops of the hedge he noted that every chance he got to go higher the hedge would grow like it was under some sort of enchantment.

He landed back on the ground; he looked back at the hedges that seemed to have gone down back to their normal state. "Weird," He began. "Somebody put an enchantment upon the hedges so we can't look over them."

-------

Turing down another dead end corner Yuugi let out a sigh. "It's another dead end." He told Yami in a slightly sad voice.

Yami frowned before looking at Yuugi. "Everywhere we seem to go seems to be a dead end. This maze should have an opening somewhere." He looked over his shoulder to where they entered from. "Even the entry is blocked. That's not right."

Yuugi looked up at him and frowned. "Do you think that they want us here for a reason with no way out?"

The prince sighed as he looked around once more. "It certainly is starting to look that way."

"Very good deduction you too, it took you long enough." A new voice from atop the hedges said. Without saying anything to each other they quickly looked up at the top of the hedges. Sitting there with his arms crossed looking down at them was Alister. He stayed silent as he jumped down from his perch and landed in front of them and in reaction they stepped backwards some.

"Well, it looks like we certainly took you two by surprise." Valon taunted from behind them, stepping out of the shadows of a bush.

Out of instinct Yuugi drew closer to Yami and clasped his hand. If those two were here there was no telling where the third one was. "What do you want with us?" He heard Yami ask them.

Valon couldn't help but laugh."Dear, dear prince, it's not the two of you we want." He paused and let his gaze rest of Yuugi. "We only want him."

Yuugi's eyes widened as he looked at the finger that was pointed at him. "What do you want with me?" He couldn't help but ask.

Raphael stepped into view and chuckled lightly. "It's not what we want with you, but our lord."

Yami narrowed his eyes and frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"It means," Alister began. "That we take him with us."

Yuugi glared at the three of them. "I'm not going anywhere with you three." He said simply.

Valon sighed and shook his head. "Either you come with us quietly or we grab you and take you with us by force."

Without so much as another word Yami took a step back and shoved Yuugi behind him. "If you want him, you'll have to go through me."

Alister smirked. "What do you have to defend yourself against us?" He asked as all three of them drew out swords.

"Maybe I should go with them." He said quietly to Yami. There was no way they would be able to defend themselves from them without having any weapons of their own.

"No." Yami whispered to him before looking back at the three nearing them. "I don't need anything to defend myself with against you three."

Before Yuugi could really grasp what was about to happened he felt himself pushed back into the brush. For a long moment he stared up at the greener that he was now lying in, a little in shock that Yami had pushed him into the bush in the first place. The clanking sound of the swords he pushed himself up to a sitting position. He watched as the fight went back and forth. Yami had nothing to defend with until he kicked the sword out of one of the hands. He picked it up and it seemed to be going in their favor when Raphael's sword slashed against Yami's right arm. He cried out in pain and dropped the sword to grasp his injured arm.

"Yami!" Yuugi yelled as he jumped out of the bushes and ran over to his injured loves side. "Are you alright?"

Yami looked at Yuugi and nodded. "I'm fine; you were supposed to stay there though."

Yuugi looked up as the three approached them. He picked up the sword that Yami just dropped as he looked at the three of them. "I'll fight you." He told them calmly.

Valon just burst out laughing. "I bet you don't even know how to sword fight."

Yuugi just stood his ground. "It doesn't matter."

Raphael just shook his head. "Allow me to demonstrate his point." He raised his sword to Yuugi's and in a few swift moves he had knocked the sword out of his hands. "It'll just be pointless to fight someone who has never handled a sword. Anyways, you must come with us now."

Alister reached into the bag and pulled out another jar of magic. "We'll use this for transportation."

It all happened so quickly that Yuugi really had no idea what was going on. One minute he was next to the three of them in the grasp of Raphael and the next he was back in the bushes. There was a bright light. It faded. He blinked and looked around and found himself sitting there alone. "Yami?" He asked his heart beat quickening as he stood up and looked around. "Yami? Where did you go?"

"Yuugi?" He heard someone call.

He turned around and saw the other four there where the hedges had been previously. Ryou blinked and looked at his friend. "Yuugi, what's wrong?" He asked his friend.

Marik raised an eyebrow. "Where's 'his highness'?" The wolf asked in a mocking tone.

Yuugi's eyes winded in horror as realization came. "He's gone." He whispered. "He went in my place."

"What are you talking about?" Bakura asked. Yuugi sighed and informed them of everything that had just transpired.

"We need to go rescue him." Yuugi finished up with.

"Are you kidding me? That's insane." Bakura interjected.

"Not to mention suicidal." Marik added.

Yuugi glared at them. "I don't care if you come or not. I'm going to go rescue him with or without your help. I'm not about to let the one I love be held prisoner by them."

Everyone was quite for a long moment. "I'll go." Ryou said a moment later.

"Me too, sounds like fun." Malik said.

Bakura and Marik both let out a heavy sigh. "I guess that leaves us no choice but to go too." The dwarf said.

Marik nodded. "But before we go or do anything else we need to make a plan and then get out of this maze."

**AN: (1) Magic surround! Distort these hedges! Traps the travelers inside!**

**Feel free to correct my Italian **


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